There’s more trouble with the Energiewende. The thrill is gone!
It used to be that the German Energiewende (transition to renewable energies) once enjoyed overwhelming support among the population. However, a recent national survey conducted by Germany’s University of Stuttgart, in cooperation with the University of Münster and two Fraunhofer institutes, shows a nation that has become split over the bold project.
Only 29% of those surveyed now see themselves as supporters of the Energiewende.
A total of 2009 persons were surveyed by telephone on a variety of aspects concerning perception of the Energiewende, e.g. wind parks in the countryside, in coastal areas and offshore, solar energy and grid revamping. Scientists at the Zentrum für Interdisziplinäre Risiko- und Innovationsforschung (Center for Interdisciplenary Risks and Innovation Research) at the University of Stuttgart (ZIRIUS), the University of Münster and two Fraunhofer institutes for System and Innovation Research (ISI) and for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) reached the following results:
29 percent of the German population are classified as supporters of the Energiewende. Another 29 percent are ambivalent with regards to the Energiewende and the related technologies, and thus are viewed as being undecided, while 27 percent can be classified as critics of the Energiewende.
This is a far cry from overwhelming support and shows growing disenchantment with the transformation. What should be worrisome is that the big brunt of the costs have yet to hit.
Already 29 percent of those surveyed said that they are no longer willing to accept to pay more for electricity in order contribute to the success of the Energiewende, the survey found. Less than half, 47 percent, of German citizens say they are willing to pay 50 euros per year more for helping the Energiewende to succeed. That figure, the study notes, is only under the condition that the total costs of the Energiewende get shared fairly between industry and the citizenry, and among the citizenry itself.
Trust in the main players of the Energiewende (large energy companies and utilities) and fairness are the most important factors in realizing acceptance. Refusal to pay or non-acceptance are not irrational defensive reactions, the study finds, but rather are based on sound reasons.
Original publication:
Sonnberger, Marco; Ruddat, Michael (2016): Die gesellschaftliche Wahrnehmung der Energiewende – Ergebnisse einer deutschlandweiten Repräsentativbefragung. In: Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Risiko- und Nachhaltigkeitsforschung, Nr. 34.
Further information:
University Stuttgart, ZIRIUS – Zentrum für Interdisziplinäre Risiko- und Innovationsforschung, Dr. Marco Sonnberger, Tel. (+49) 711/685-84297, E-mail and Dr. Michael Ruddat, Tel. (+49) 711/685-8326, E-mail.
Sod to the rescue in 3…… 2…….. 1 5/8ths………………………………………………………….. 1 9/16ths……………………………………………………….
He’s still stuck in his wet paper bag.
Hmmm,
29% + 29% + 27% = 85%. What do the other 15% think?
Let’s say 15% non-response? Very curious that in opinion polls everybody always has an opinion. If the sample were representative, 15% must have an IQ less than 85. Perhaps these people do not know what ‘Energiewende’ means.
I wondered the same.
The 15% likely have an IQ above 185. The justifiable paranoid that does not want to have anything to do with anything econazi.
As the subsidies and feed-in mandates are gradually removed..
Who will be cleaning up the rotting carcasses of abandoned wind turbines?
The people who scammed those subsidies will be long gone, hiding back under their rock somewhere.
Curious. Always the “transition” is mentioned. But energy transition is storage transition. Coal, oil and gas are energy storages. Where are those new storages? Nowhere.
In spite of all rhetorics, there is no transition.
“Less than half, 47 percent, of German citizens say they are willing to pay 50 euros per year more for helping the Energiewende to succeed.”
weird way to spin this number. about half are ready to pay more. That is more support than your side can ever imagine.
Dissent is growing rapidly…
Get used to it, sop, because its going to keep growing rapidly.
Remove feed-in mandates, remove subsidies and forced payments…. UNRELAIBLES will die a natural death.
typo… UNRELIABLES…
Let’s see how the figures change during this winter. Prices continue to rise and erode the trust that initially supported Die EnergieWende. An event in Europe like that experienced recently in South Australia will crush the remaining support.
I absolutely agree with you sod!
If anyone in Europe should be there experimenting on the good citizens livelihoods, or lives even, then let Germany do it. Pay at least €100/household/year for the privilege of being the first in Europe if not the world to do it!
I say this because if it were Greece, Wallonia, Scotland, Spain, Italy etc., then anyone could say something like —
“Well what can you expect from Greece,(or Spain, Scotland, Wallonia, or Italy, etc), they’ve not got the infrastructure, and/or organization and/or technical talent, etc.”
However this is Germany trying it! Hooray!
When it fails there all of Europe will abandon the idea as it will have been proved beyond doubt to be an expensive but worthless project.
So come on Germany lets go for it 100%
unreliablesrenewables by 2020! And my commiserations to all the good citizen of Germany for being the unfortunate guinea pigs.sod 23. October 2016 at 10:56 PM | Permalink | Reply
““Less than half, 47 percent, of German citizens say they are willing to pay 50 euros per year more for helping the Energiewende to succeed.”
weird way to spin this number. about half are ready to pay more. That is more support than your side can ever imagine.”
50 EUR per yr? Currently Germans pay 35bn EUR a year for the subsidies for the nonperforming renewables contraptions a.k.a. religious fetishes without the divinity.
That is 437 EUR/yr per man woman and child. Assuming half the population works that’s 874 EUR/yr per worker. Assuming half of them work in the PRODUCTIVE sector that’s 1748 EUR/yr per productive worker.
they asked “Less than half, 47 percent, of German citizens say they are willing to pay 50 euros per year more for helping the Energiewende to succeed. ”
Had they asked, are you willing to pay more than 2000 EUR/yr for the renewables subsidies, they would have been REMOTELY realistic.
The Green SPD-CDU government is the worst thing happening to Germany since the naval blockade in WW 1.
Also, the total RETARDEDNESS of even those interviewers who didn’t even get CLOSE to the order of magnitude of monetary redistribution from the productive to the unproductive is testament to 7 decades of relentless lowering of the standards in the state schools.
“That figure, the study notes, is only under the condition that the total costs of the Energiewende get shared fairly between industry and the citizenry, and among the citizenry itself.”
I completely overlooked this. How many times do these people need to prove that they are complete morons? Everything is paid by the customer. Academia seems to consist of mental bottom dwellers these days. That’s what you get when you throw millions of tax Euros at people with degrees: stupid parasites.
+1000 Spot on. Academia is where the problem is, they don’t have enough hands on experience to know anything. They just think they do. Stupid parasites is right.