Every good manager knows that economic success and environmental protection only get achieved when resources are used efficiently and wisely. It makes little sense to buy a huge machine that can run only 20% of the time when you can get the job done using a much smaller machine that runs 100% all the time.
Capacity utilization (economic efficiency) of the energy feed-in power production systems in percent. Data source: http://goo.gl/GqJuy. Chart source: Wilfried Heck/.
Biomasse – biomass
Wasserkraft – hydro
EEG-Erzeugung – all combined
biogener Abfall – bio-waste
Windkraft – wind power
As the graphic above from Winfried Heck’s website shows, Germany’s overall green power efficiency, depicted by the bold “EEG-Erzeugung” curve, is approaching only 20%.
In the early 90s, biomass and hydro were the bulk of Germany’s renewable energy, and so the overall capacity utilization of its green energy back then was close to 50%. But massive subsidies lead to the large-scale installation of the far less efficient wind power and photovoltaic systems, which today are Germany’s main producers of green energy, overshadowing hydro and biomass. Thus inefficient solar and wind have since dragged the overall efficiency of Germany’s green energy supply down to just over 20%.
That’s horrendous from a technical and economic point of view. At that level, it’s only a question of a very short time before you find your competitors running circles around you.
Note in the chart that photovoltaic systems barely reach 10% of their capacity, wind barely reaches 20%. No wonder electric bills in Germany have been skyrocketing and companies are saying “auf Wiedersehen”.
Although the amount of green energy produced in Germany has gone up, it has become very inefficient overall.
Worse, the more wind and solar systems get installed, the more intermitently the conventional systems end up running, thus making them far less efficient and costlier. Result: Germany’s entire energy production system is rapidly becoming sub-par. That’s bad for the environment, the consumer’s pocket book, and for the country’s global competitiveness.
Call it communist power management. In the communist days it took 10 men to the job of one man in a free market. On the energy market, it takes 5 green generators to do the job of a single conventional generator.
Little wonder that Environment Minister Peter Altmaier says Germany’s transition to green energy is going to cost $1.3 TRILLION dollars if the madness isn’t stopped soon.
It’s all the fault of that white stuff covering the solar panels. Heck why is it even there? Shouldn’t it be warm enough to melt that stuff? SCHELLNHUBER!
It’s funny to see the bio-waste geing used to generate electricity. A lot of it was (I suspect) previously used to condition agricultural soils. They could use synthetic fertilisers made from/with evil oil to maintain some productivity over the years, having sold their bio-waste to the “generators”. 😉
[…] TRUTH The fiasco of the 2009 UN climate conference in Copenhagen proved that China, India, Brazil and other fast-growing nations are simply not prepared to make any binding commitments to reduce their emissions. However, by cutting our own ever more deeply, all we do is increase the already rocketing price of our energy and so drive jobs abroad – while making almost no difference to world CO2 levels. MYTH The faster we cut carbon in our power generation, the more prosperous we will. […]
. . . 1st try did not pass a filter or something; so here’s a 2nd attempt:
The result was predictable and, I assume was. So, I understand the result to be what the German leaders wanted. Therefore, you have a successful government program. The voters should now toss those leaders on the slag heap of history and start anew. The US would be very close behind if not for the shale gas lands being in private ownership. The Pres and friends have the EPA working on this issue. Stay tuned.
John, it was the current opposition (Greens and SPD, social democrats) who initiated the disaster. The current environment minister, Altmaier, CDU (conservative) at least pointed out the catastrophic cost. So all we can hope that the current guys STAY in power, we won’t get anything remotely responsible from the current opposition – they are pipe dreamers.
http://www.thegwpf.org/green-germanys-greenhouse-gas-emissions-rising/
“Germany’s greenhouse gas emissions rose 1.6 percent last year as more coal was burned to generate power, according to the Environment Ministry.”
[…] News About Hydro Green Energy: Hydro Green Energy Hydrokinetic Turbine Operation Slaying the Green Energy Dragon-Ontario Wind Resistance Germany’s Renewable Energy Efficiency Falls To Just Over 20 […]