Cold Weather Foils German Efforts To Fight Global Warming! Coal Consumption Rises Again…Wind Falters

If you think things couldn’t get more absurd with Germany’s Energiewende, think again.

The German Bundesverbandes der Energie- und Wasserwirtschaft (Federal Association of Energy and Water Management) or BDEW, released its latest report on electricity production in Germany. The BDEW represents about 1800 companies of the energy and power sector.

Germany burns more coal, emits more CO2!

According to the German Press Agency (dpa), the BDEW reports coal power plants provided 45.5% of Germany’s electric power needs in 2013 compared to 44% in 2012. That’s an increase of more than 3%. Although Germany has invested hundreds of billions in green energy, CO2 emissions are rising. In 2013 renewable energy provided 23.4% of Germany’s electricity needs, up from 22.8% in 2012.

Natural gas, often considered a reliable alternative to coal and nuclear, fell in Germany from 12.1% to 10.5% German power companies say natural gas is too expensive. The dpa writes that “the share of electricity produced by burning lignite reached the highest level since 1990.”

German onshore wind power faces cuts

Solar energy’s share, despite billions in investments, only rose from 4.2% to 4.5%. Wind power production in Germany took a hit in 2013. Its share of German power was only 7.9% in 2013 compared to 8.0% in 2012 (a drop of 3.5%). The BDEW says this was due to the weather (less windy than 2012). Overall wind power in Germany is facing new hurdles. The dpa reports:

Energy Minister Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) wants to present a framework for a more affordable Energiewende by Easter – foremost subsidies for wind turbines onshore may be cut back.”

Cold weather foils Germany’s fight against global warming

For whatever reason the Süddeutsche zeitung left out the following from the dpa:

The increasing CO2 emissions that threaten Germany’s climate targets are traced back, according to Müller, foremost to the long heating season at the start of 2013 and the falling share of gas.

In other words: Cold weather foiled Germany’s fight against global warming in 2013.

 

8 responses to “Cold Weather Foils German Efforts To Fight Global Warming! Coal Consumption Rises Again…Wind Falters”

  1. Casper

    According to the Wirtualny Przemysl (Polish Portal on Industry) Polish coal is being exported…to Germany!

    http://gornictwo.wnp.pl/wegiel-wydobyty-w-polsce-trafi-do-niemiec,214778_1_0_0.html

  2. Ric Werme

    There’s a major omission in this report – what is the overall change in power production between 2012 and 2013? Without knowing that, the comparison based on percentages leads to some unsubstantiable claims. E.g.

    Wind power production in Germany took a hit in 2013. Its share of German power was only 7.9% in 2013 compared to 8.0% in 2012 (a drop of 3.5%). The BDEW says this was due to the weather (less windy than 2012).

    Suppose Germany produced 5% more electricity in 2013 than 2012. That would mean wind power production would have produced some 1.5% more MWh even though its share of total power dropped.

    Folks, be careful if you quote from this story!

  3. DICK R

    We have up to now had a mild winter in most of the UK the ecolunatics are still trying to cite ‘ Global warming ‘ as the main reason, weather reports from other parts of the world are becoming increasingly vague, especially those coming from areas who are suffering exceptionally cold weather .

  4. Bernd Felsche

    Those figures only deal with electricity production.

    There are other energy requirements that are met by burning coal; such as (district and process) heating; and oil; for transportation. IIRC something like 12% of all energy use in Germany is for transportation. The rail network is the only substantial user of electricity for transport.

    By-products of coal power include pharmaceuticals and materials for building and construction (gypsum, concrete, …).

    1. DirkH

      Yep. Transient electricity would in a free market achieve a very low or negative price; this would force wind/solar providers to install storage to increase the value of their product.

      As the price is fixed through political intervention, more intervention becomes necessary to create an Ersatz reason to install storage. Meddling begets more meddling; von Mises’ price finding dilemma in all socialisms.

      Pierre said: “If you think things couldn’t get more absurd with Germany’s Energiewende, think again.”

      I didn’t think so. I knew that the distortions would create more distortions. And will continue to do so.

  5. John F. Hultquist

    Here is a report from 2012/02/09 from a green advocate about the export of electricity to France from Germany.
    http://cleantechnica.com/2012/02/09/clean-energy-loving-germany-increasingly-exporting-electricity-to-nuclear-heavy-france/

    And here is a chart showing the import of electricity to Germany.
    http://www.theglobaleconomy.com/Germany/electricity_imports/

    So, assuming Casper, Ric, and Bernd are all correct as are the 2 links, it seems this energy thing is quite difficult to figure out. I realize it changes year to year (I suppose day to day as the sun shines or not and the wind blows or not).

    ~~~~~
    Funny typo in your translation of the German Association (4th line from the top).

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