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Angela Merkel’s record on environmental policy has been a disaster

theguardian.com

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Re: Angela Merkel’s record on environmental policy has been a disaster

#71

Post by dvfjsdhgfv »

lispm wrote: post #26
dvfjsdhgfv wrote: post #2

As a person, she's extremely obstinate. For a leader, this trait can be advantageous - after all, who wants a leader who changes their minds all the time - but for the rest of Europe it's a curse. Somehow she is unable to admit she made some serious mistakes, and we're all suffering because of it.

That's actually the opposite of the perception of Angela Merkel in Germany. In Germany she is seen as populist, because she changes her mind quite often or waits until the public opinion is clear. Only in the refugee crisis, she was seen as following moral principles having not made any concessions to right wing politics (which earned her a lot of respect and a lot of hate). Make no mistake, generally her team is ver…

> she was seen as following moral principles having not made any concessions to right wing politics

Well, Bavarians might disagree with both "moral principles" and "right wing". Especially CDU is hardly "right wing".

Re: Angela Merkel’s record on environmental policy has been a disaster

#72

Post by mfukar »

ahartmetz wrote: post #59
Grue3 wrote: post #49

IMO being anti-nuclear and pro-environment are mutually exclusive positions. Easy way to discern who really wants to reduce carbon emissions and who is just a populist.

According to environmentalists in Germany, nuclear and pro-environment are indeed mutually exclusive. But I prefer not to copy all of my opinions from the group I most agree with. FWIW I think nuclear is good in principle, but neither states nor companies have proven responsible enough to handle it. So I'm kind of against nuclear but not in this dogmatic way. The practical difference is that I think there should be f…

> FWIW I think nuclear is good in principle, but neither states nor companies have proven responsible enough to handle it.

So the currently operating nuclear plants that have gone without incident are dismissed? Why so?

Re: Angela Merkel’s record on environmental policy has been a disaster

#73

Post by nemanjaboric »

mixedbit wrote: post #33

I fail to understand why German automotive industry is lobbing pro diesels. All German car makers make both gasoline and diesel engines, if diesels were banned or taxed to be more expensive customers wouldn't resign from buying cars but would choose some other available option (gasoline, hybrid, electric).

I think the point is high CO_2 exhaustion rate of the gasoline cars, so that entire industry (and customers) switched towards the diesel engines, actively promoting them to be superior and eco-friendly variant of gasoline engines. Turns out they were wrong (just the other type of the pollution - Feinstaub) and to make things worse, they kept silent until the entire thing broke viral.

Re: Angela Merkel’s record on environmental policy has been a disaster

#74

Post by Ntrails »

Grue3 wrote: post #49

IMO being anti-nuclear and pro-environment are mutually exclusive positions. Easy way to discern who really wants to reduce carbon emissions and who is just a populist.

It is incredibly telling to me that the article doesn't even mention the nuclear issue because, i assume, the author is afraid of that reality. Coal is going to have to be a backbone because nuclear got killed. Pick your poison please, but be honest that that was the choice made.

Re: Angela Merkel’s record on environmental policy has been a disaster

#75

Post by Yetanfou »

Tomte wrote: post #23
marze wrote: post #6

Germany's generous subsidy and build out of solar, while solar was still really expensive, was key in driving the cost down which now the whole world benefits from. Huge credit there. But bio fuels are an unmitigated disaster. Electric ground transportation is the future.

If scientists finally succeed in mimicking the oxygen evolving complex from photosynthesis, you get decentralized free hydrogen. Suddenly real hydrogen combustion (instead of fuel cells) makes sense and should be advantageous, even compared to electric transportation. But, of course, it's a bit like fusion power: should be achievable in principle, but the details are infuriatingly difficult.

Hydrogen combustion using outside air as the oxygen source will produce NOx so those engines will produce more than just water vapor.

Re: Angela Merkel’s record on environmental policy has been a disaster

#76

Post by mfukar »

baybal2 wrote: post #8

This sounds alarmistic to me. Diesel emissions are exaggerated. European emission standards set limits for diesel emissions that are just minutely different from gasoline emissions. American limits for diesels are notorious for being more restrictive than for gas engines. All of that considered, diesels are plainly more economical and more efficient on pretty much all common engine size ranges

It's alarmist criticism of politics, and not of actual fact. It'd be difficult to find a single study supporting the headline with facts.

Re: Angela Merkel’s record on environmental policy has been a disaster

#77

Post by readittwice »

lispm wrote: post #26
dvfjsdhgfv wrote: post #2

As a person, she's extremely obstinate. For a leader, this trait can be advantageous - after all, who wants a leader who changes their minds all the time - but for the rest of Europe it's a curse. Somehow she is unable to admit she made some serious mistakes, and we're all suffering because of it.

That's actually the opposite of the perception of Angela Merkel in Germany. In Germany she is seen as populist, because she changes her mind quite often or waits until the public opinion is clear. Only in the refugee crisis, she was seen as following moral principles having not made any concessions to right wing politics (which earned her a lot of respect and a lot of hate). Make no mistake, generally her team is ver…

Merkel perceived as populist in Germany? I've heard a lot about Merkel but this is new. Do you have a poll or anything to show this is really the case and not just your (or your friends/relatives) opinion? Who of Germany's politicians would you call then less of a populist?

Re: Angela Merkel’s record on environmental policy has been a disaster

#78

Post by superpope99 »

yorwba wrote: post #10

The article voices a bunch of valid criticism, but I really wish it could have done so without turning environmental damage into a contest and using unsubstantiated superlatives. Is it not enough to criticize someone without claiming that they are the worst ? The jab at Trump felt misplaced as well.

Very much George Monbiot's style, I find it grating sometimes how hyper-critical he is of a lot of climate change endeavours. But I suppose it's better to have that voice there than not.

Re: Angela Merkel’s record on environmental policy has been a disaster

#79

Post by Tomte »

matt4077 wrote: post #66
Tomte wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If scientists finally succeed in mimicking the oxygen evolving complex from photosynthesis, you get decentralized free hydrogen. Suddenly real hydrogen combustion (instead of fuel cells) makes sense and should be advantageous, even compared to electric transportation. But, of course, it's a bit like fusion power: should be achievable in principle, but the details are infuriatingly difficult.

Photosynthesis is incredibly inefficient compared to solar cells.

I‘m not talking about photosynthesis (oxygen evolving complex, photosystem II and photosystem I), only the very first step. I don‘t see why it should be inefficient.

Re: Angela Merkel’s record on environmental policy has been a disaster

#80

Post by czechdeveloper »

speedplane wrote: post #20
guitarbill wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do hydrogen fuel cells have major issues, other than the chicken-and-egg problem of hydrogen refueling stations?

Expensive materials (platinum) and difficulty making them small enough for a car.

Is hydrogen low stability and easy leakage not an issue anymore?
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