Davin News Server

Study Quantifies Germany's Disastrous Switch Away From Nuclear Power

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/08/29/study-quantifies-germanys-disastrous-switch-away-from-nuclear-power/

At the dawn of the millennium, Germany launched an ambitious plan to transition to renewable energy. "Die 
Energiewende" initiated a massive expansion of solar and wind power, resulting in a commendable 25 percent 
reduction in carbon emissions by 2022 compared to 2002. 

But while Energiewende slashed pollution through building out renewable energy sources, it also phased out 
Germany's fleet of safe, carbon-free nuclear power plants, a longtime goal of environmental activists afraid 
of nuclear's salient - but in actuality small - dangers. The result, according to a new analysis recently 
published to the International Journal of Sustainable Energy, has been a boondoggle for consumers and for the 
environment. 

In 2002, nuclear power supplied about a fifth of Germany's electricity. Twenty-one years later, it supplied 
none. A layperson might think that cheap wind and solar could simply fill the gap, but it isn't so simple. 
Once up and running, nuclear reactors provide reliable, affordable "baseload" power - electricity that's 
available all the time. Ephemeral renewables simply can't match nuclear's consistency. And since an advanced 
economy like Germany's requires a 100 percent reliable power grid, fossil fuel power plants burning coal and 
natural gas were brought online to pick up wind and solar's slack. 

The net result of German politicians' shortsightedness in phasing out nuclear power is a vastly pricier grid. 
The new analysis shows that if Germans simply maintained their 2002 fleet of reactors through 2022, they 
could have saved themselves roughly $600 billion Euros. Why so much? Well, in addition to their construction 
costs, renewables required expensive grid upgrades and subsidies. Moreover, in this hypothetical scenario 
where nuclear remained, Germany enjoyed nearly identical reductions in carbon emissions. 

Jan Emblemsvåg, a Professor of Civil Engineering at Norway's NTNU and the architect of the analysis, imagined 
another scenario out of curiosity. What if the Germans had taken the money spent on expanding renewables and 
instead used it to construct new nuclear capacity? According to his calculations, they could have slashed 
carbon emissions a further 73% on top of their cuts in 2022, while simultaneously enjoying a savings of 330 
billion Euros compared to the massive costs of Energiewende. 

Policymakers in other countries looking to decarbonize their grids should take note.

=====

August:

Thousands Without Power In Tasmania As Cold And Snow Intensify

Foot Of Snow Closes Going-To-The-Sun Road

Rare August Snow Clips Montana's Peaks

Earth's Oceans Are Cooling Fast, And Scientists Have Yet To Come Up With A Party-Approved Reason Why

Snow In Wyoming And Colorado

August Snow Has U.S. Resorts Planning For Winter

Rare Snow And Century-Old Cold Records Fall In California

Rare August Chill Breaks Decades-Old Records

Rare August Snow For The Sierra Nevada

The Atlantic's Rapid Cooling

Heavy Snow Hits New Zealand's South Island

Record Summer Chills Sweep The Great Lakes, Northeast, and Southern Canada

Where Are The Hurricanes? Another Crushing Defeat For Team Climate Change

Antarctica Registers -75.5C (-103.9F), Sea Ice Surges

Winter Far From Over In New Zealand

Historical "Heatwave Days" Show No Trend

Researchers Pumped Extra CO2 Into A Forest, And Biodiversity Thrived

Low Temperature Records Fall In U.S.

Frosts Persist In South America, Impacting Coffee Prices

Island Nations Like Tuvalu: Growing, Not Sinking

Record Cold Sweeps Brazil

Antarctica Back Below -70C (-94F)

Summer Snowfall at Khardungla Pass

Polar Bear And Arctic Sea Ice Lies Persist

Polar Fronts To Hit South America

Antarctic Sea Ice Extent Gains 1 Million Km2 In A Week

Frigid Winter Forecast For NH

Vast Cold Wave About To Sweep The U.S.
Greek Study Challenges CO2-Temperature Causality
Arctic Shipping Season Is Shortening
Rapid Antarctic Sea Ice Growth
Heavy Snow Hits New Zealand
Too Many Polar Bears In Greenland
British Farmers Paid To NOT Produce Food
Record July Cold Hits Scotland
Summer To Quit Early This Year
Remarkable Summer Gains On The Greenland Ice Sheet
Arctic Sea Ice Extent: No Cause For Alarm
$78 Trillion To Fight The Hoax of 'Climate Crisis'