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Renewables now account for 25% of German energy production

reuters.com

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Re: Renewables now account for 25% of German energy production

#11

Post by Loic »

guard-of-terra wrote: post #6
Avshalom wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it is considered green by some it's probably because biomass doesn't result in things like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountaintop_removal_mining or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tagebau_Garzweiler_Panoram...

Well, it might still result in refitting agricultural areas for biofuels, increased food prices and people starving.

Biofuels is also destroying ecosystems because of the use of pesticides and fertilizers you a sharp decrease of the number of insects living in fields, decreasing the number of birds. In Germany, in 30 years, we had a 90% decrease of the number of "field birds". This is really worrying but at least, it is now a known fact and the EU agricultural subventions are going to shift to help prevent such issues. Still a long way to go...

Re: Renewables now account for 25% of German energy production

#12

Post by geogra4 »

crusso wrote: post #9

I heard at a power conference last week that Germany halted installation of new solar panels on homes recently due to the problems integrating solar onto the grid. As the lecturer put it: We've spent the last hundred years building systems to safely and reliably send power on a one-way trip from the utilities to businesses and homes. Modifying the electrical distribution system to be multi-directional is not an easy…

Probably things like this[0] are designed to help.

[0]http://www.siemens.com/press/en/pressrelease/?press=/en/pres...

Re: Renewables now account for 25% of German energy production

#13

Post by maebert »

crusso wrote: post #9

I heard at a power conference last week that Germany halted installation of new solar panels on homes recently due to the problems integrating solar onto the grid. As the lecturer put it: We've spent the last hundred years building systems to safely and reliably send power on a one-way trip from the utilities to businesses and homes. Modifying the electrical distribution system to be multi-directional is not an easy…

That would be new to me - people here have been able to feed in excess energy to the grid for more than two decades. The real problem however is that the traditional power suppliers are forced to pay users that _feed in_ a very lucrative amount per kWh they produce in excess and recently started to rebel against that policy. So I wouldn't be surprised if the "technical problems" are somewhat politically/economically motivated.

Re: Renewables now account for 25% of German energy production

#14

Post by zerostar07 »

In terms of renewables, i think Norway and Brazil are higher up there, with 85% and 95% of their energy coming from renewable sources such as hydroelectic plants.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_Brazil http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_Norway

Re: Renewables now account for 25% of German energy production

#15

Post by nattofriends »

zerostar07 wrote: post #14

In terms of renewables, i think Norway and Brazil are higher up there, with 85% and 95% of their energy coming from renewable sources such as hydroelectic plants. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_Brazil http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_Norway

Hydroelectric power is not something all countries are lucky enough to have.

Re: Renewables now account for 25% of German energy production

#16

Post by huggyface »

plehoux wrote: post #5
guard-of-terra wrote: post #2

By the way, I wonder why biomass is green while coal is not? I mean, in the end you burn organic materials? Of course, existing coal plants are dirty, but for that kind of money you could make like really nice coal plants.

Because biomass will naturally released CO2 when decomposing. Burning it won't add to the footprint. On the other hand, when you are burning coal, you released CO2 that was previously sequestered.

Because biomass will naturally released CO2 when decomposing

Add that biomass usually releases CH4 (methane) which is a considered a much more potent greenhouse gas. Even simply burning the methane to CO2 -- ignoring energy recapture -- is an environmentally beneficial action, which is why landfills sometimes have flares.

Re: Renewables now account for 25% of German energy production

#17

Post by rmc »

guard-of-terra wrote: post #2

By the way, I wonder why biomass is green while coal is not? I mean, in the end you burn organic materials? Of course, existing coal plants are dirty, but for that kind of money you could make like really nice coal plants.

Biomass is renewable.

Depending on one's definition of 'green' it may or may not be green. However it is renewable (in a sensible time frame).

Re: Renewables now account for 25% of German energy production

#19

Post by mtgx »

crusso wrote: post #9

I heard at a power conference last week that Germany halted installation of new solar panels on homes recently due to the problems integrating solar onto the grid. As the lecturer put it: We've spent the last hundred years building systems to safely and reliably send power on a one-way trip from the utilities to businesses and homes. Modifying the electrical distribution system to be multi-directional is not an easy…

I was surprised the energy they get from wind is more than twice what they get from solar. Isn't Germany like a good country for solar?

Also, this is the first time I see that they want to get only 35% of the energy from renewables by 2035. So they want to improve it only by 10% in the next 23 years? That's sounds like a very small improvement in a lot of time. I thought their original goal was 40% as renewable energy by 2020.

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