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| German States from Wikipedia |
Some people in Vermont have been opposed to the continued operation of Vermont Yankee. These same people are often opposed to fossil power sources. How do they plan to obtain electricity? They often say that Vermont should "follow the lead of Germany in using renewables."
I don't want to follow that lead, because I don't think the German program is leading anywhere happy. A few days ago, a three-part article in Spiegel Online confirmed my opinion of the German experience. The Spiegel story about renewable energy is in three parts:
Part 2: The Regressive Energy Tax
Part 3: Incentives for Pollution
I am an administrator on the Save Vermont Yankee Facebook Page and I thought that this Spiegel story would be of interest to Vermonters. So I posted it on that page. The Facebook page tweets a link to its posts. On Twitter, I am yes_VY. Here's my Spiegel tweet as it appeared on Twitter.
Germany's renewable system isn't working. From Der Spiegel. #nuclear #VY Electricity as a "luxury good."... http://t.co/aZAeZx8yMyEnergiewende Germany, Twitter, and a Complete Rebuttal
— Yes Vermont Yankee (@yes_VY) September 6, 2013
Who knew? Energiewende Germany found this tweet and a similar one from NEI. Here's their answer:
Skyrocketing prices?! That article tries to scare German readers with €90 power bill, what most Americans already have. Oops! @N_E_I @yes_VYAt then...@NuclearEnforcer came on the Twitter scene. His twitter illustration shows a cartoon superhero (complete with cape). The description of his tweet stream is "Battling the anti-nuclear dis-information campaign one tweet at a time." He answered the Energiewende tweet:
— Energiewende Germany (@EnergiewendeGER) September 7, 2013
@EnergiewendeGER @N_E_I @yes_VY Check page 43, Germany had 2-3 times higher prices than US in 2011 and going higher http://t.co/bGux55OX2r
— NuclearEnforcer (@NuclearEnforcer) September 7, 2013
EIA and real data
Enough tweets. Let's look at some real data: the data @NuclearEnforcer referenced.
He (or she) linked to the International Energy Agency (IEA) 2012 report on world-wide energy use and prices. Here's a link to that 2012 IEA report. (Warning, it's a big pdf and slow to download.) To save time for my readers, I have copied page 43 of the report below.
Electricity for households in Germany is about 35 cents per kWh, the second-highest in Europe. The equivalent price in the U S is about 12 cents per kWh.
Who is trying to scare whom?
It's been mighty quiet from Energiewende recently.
Further reading:
I encourage you to follow the Spiegel links in this blog post, and that is certainly enough reading.
Still, I need to link to one more article. My friend Guy Page had a guest post at this blog: As Germany Goes, So Goes Vermont? In May of this year, he covered much of the same information Spiegel covered, but in a more succinct fashion.
However, to get the German view on this subject, you should read Spiegel (the links above).
