A new campaign for renewables in the US focuses on something too often overlooked in the debate there: community ownership. Craig Morris is pleased to see the campaign’s work, but he nonetheless has some things to critique.
Year: 2013
2013 German Election Energy Party Profiles – Part 1: Market Integration of Power Generation from Renewable Energies
In the face of the upcoming federal elections on 22 September 2013, Manfred Ungemach and Markus Przytulski analyze the competing parties’ agendas on key questions concerning German energy politics. The topic of this first post is the question how the parties want to integrate renewable energy into the energy market and therewith expose the production of renewable energy to market risks.
Power from Below Drives Clean Energy Campaign
Even though opinion polls show Germans staunchly behind the clean energy transition (82 percent), the barrage of negative press of late has clearly wounded the Energiewende.
The Dutch energy transition
At the end of August, the Dutch government announced slightly different targets for renewables, and some interesting details are in the works. Nonetheless, the country still is not on course to meet its target for 2050. For that matter, neither is Germany, as Craig Morris points out.
Without strong German leadership, the adoption of an ambitious renewable energy policy across Europe will be impossible
Debates are currently taking place over the EU’s energy and climate targets for 2030. Andrzej Ancygier and Kacper Szulecki note that Germany has so far kept an unusually low profile in the talks, which is at odds with the country’s active promotion of ambitious renewable energy and climate targets during its EU presidency in 2007. Using the case of Poland, which has so far shown reluctance to making the transition to renewable energy technology, as an example, they argue that there will be significant costs for both the German economy and European climate policy if the German government does not take a leading role over the issue.
Five lessons from Germany’s renewable energy transition
Germany’s Energiewende is unprecedented. Sam Friggens argues that Germany’s successes and challenges can be valuable lessons for other countries that want to switch to a renewable-based electricity system.
Germany’s Energiewende – criticism is part of development and innovation
International commentators have often taken domestic criticism concerning the Energiewende as proof for a lack of public support. Martin Brandt argues that criticism of the German Energy Transition is part of a long-term development and innovation process.
German Exports of Coal Power Way Up
New figures out show a huge increase in German electricity exports for the first half of 2013. Green power being sold across borders? No, sadly not. It’s ugly power – brown coal itself, as Paul Hockenos explains.
German electricity getting cheaper on exchange
In mid-August, Germany had its first normal workday on which peak power prices were below base prices, and futures prices are also down. Craig Morris provides an overview and warns proponents of renewables not to rejoice too soon at the demise of conventional power.
Separating Fact from Fiction in Accounts of Germany’s Renewables Revolution
In recent months, much misinformation has been spread about the German Energiewende. Amory Lovins from Rocky Mountain Institute debunks some of the most pressing myths about the German Energiewende – from grid stability to the role of coal.