Pirate's Cove

This should be fun. The green grid in Australia collapsed under the weight of the heat wave, which is typically the norm when “relying” on energy that is called “the renewable supply duck neck (power only arrives when it isn’t needed).” Solar doesn’t work at night when people are home and trying to sleep with air conditioning (something Warmsts are trying to eliminate for Other People). Wind turbines do not supply energy when the wind isn’t blowing between 5 to 30 miles per hour. Damns are only available in certain areas, and extreme enviros not only block new ones, they want old ones torn down. And they also want no new nuclear plants, and are getting old ones turned off

Germany to close all 84 of its coal-fired power plants, will rely primarily on renewable energy

Germany, one of the world’s biggest consumers of coal, will shut down all 84 of its coal-fired power plants over the next 19 years to meet its international commitments in the fight against climate change, a government commission said Saturday.

The announcement marked a significant shift for Europe’s largest country — a nation that had long been a leader on cutting CO2 emissions before turning into a laggard in recent years and badly missing its reduction targets. Coal plants account for 40% of Germany’s electricity, itself a reduction from recent years when coal dominated power production.

“This is an historic accomplishment,” said Ronald Pofalla, chairman of the 28-member government commission, at a news conference in Berlin following a marathon 21-hour negotiating session that concluded at 6 a.m. Saturday. The breakthrough ended seven months of wrangling. “It was anything but a sure thing. But we did it,” Pofalla said. “There won’t be any more coal-burning plants in Germany by 2038.”

The plan includes some $45 billion in spending to mitigate the pain in coal regions. The commission’s recommendations are expected to be adopted by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government.

“It’s a big moment for climate policy in Germany that could make the country a leader once again in fighting climate change,” said Claudia Kemfert, professor for energy economics at the DIW Berlin, the German Institute for Economic Research. “It’s also an important signal for the world that Germany is again getting serious about climate change: a very big industrial nation that depends so much on coal is switching it off.”

The decision to quit coal follows an earlier bold energy policy move by the German government, which decided to shut down all of its nuclear power plants by 2022 in the wake of Japan’s Fukushima disaster in 2011.

Now, perhaps there will be some great breakthrough between now and 2038. You never know. But, probably not

The plan to eliminate coal-burning plants as well as nuclear means that Germany will be counting on renewable energy to provide 65% to 80% of the country’s power by 2040. Last year, renewables overtook coal as the leading source and now account for 41% of the country’s electricity.

This has also led to more people relying on a the original renewable: wood. The use of wood, particularly wood pellets, has skyrocketed in German homes over the last 10 years as they’ve gone on this climalarmist journey. Which means more trees cut down. Which also leads to more particulate pollution. And this will all lead to an increase in the cost of energy to go with the unreliability, which means the cost of living will skyrocket.

Of course, one has to wonder if what will happen instead of solar and wind (where will it all go? The footprints of these are huge) is that the use of natural gas will skyrocket, and one of Germany’s biggest suppliers is….Russia.

Anyhow, good luck, Germany.