Germany’s Energiewende is the world’s most ambitious project to get an industrialized economy on a path towards a sustainable energy system. EDF’s Peter Sopher sums up the goals and lessons for the United States.
All posts tagged: Local Ownership
German Renewable Energy Act Reform is not a “Feed-in Tariff 2.0”
The German government has presented a first draft to reform the Renewable Energy Act, cornerstone of Germany’s energy transition. Anna Leidreiter explains the shortcomings.
Diaspora-Driven Campaigns Finance Clean Energy Projects
For countries with widespread and established emigrant communities, crowdfunding can be a means to support sustainable development at home, reports Paul Hockenos.
Autoproduction to get around the EEG?
The French call it “autoproduction”; the Germans, “own consumption.” Whatever you call it, it’s becoming more popular, which may be why the German government wants to have it cover the cost of the transition as well. Craig Morris says recent policy proposals constitute an about-face and warns against stop-and-go policy support.
Renewables Power a Rural German Village
Regardless of debate about the success of Germany’s renewables revolution, there is no denying that a small town in the corner of rural eastern Germany, 40 miles south of Berlin, may be one of the best examples of decentralized self-sufficiency. Feldheim (pop. 150), in the cash-strapped state of Brandenburg, was a communist collective farm back when Germany was still divided into East and West. Now it is a model renewable energy village putting into practice Germany’s vision of a renewably powered future, as RMI’s Laurie Guevara-Stone reports.
Kazakhstan Goes Renewable
The Kazakh government has set out to modernize its fossil fuel-dependent economy, often in cooperation with German partners. The country is home to ample supplies of both uranium and renewable sources of energy. Whether it can stay its ambitious course and sustain green developments to meet its targets for 2050 remains to be seen, reminds Komila Nabiyeva.
What future role for today’s utilities?
We live in an age of quickly changing business models, and the trend is clearly towards Big Box megastores – to the detriment of mom-and-pop shops. But Craig Morris says the energy sector is shaping up to go in the opposite direction.
Vauban: District of the 21st century
A barracks as a forerunner in terms of urban development and sustainable living? What sounds like a mismatch is today the home of more than 5,000 citizens of Freiburg, Germany in a district called Vauban, as Julian Wortmann explains.
Innovative Third-Party Financing Makes Solar Affordable—For All
Ten years ago many Americans couldn’t afford to buy a solar electric system for their home. Today, many consumers still can’t stomach the steep sticker price, even if it offers the promise of low-cost, clean renewable energy in the long term. But, as RMI’s Laurie Guevara-Stone finds, that’s changing thanks in large part to third-party financing that frequently includes no-money-down options for residential PV systems.
The Hidden Power of Local Finance
While Berlin debates capacity markets and new grid infrastructure, local players like those in the southern city of Freiburg continue to make Germany’s energy transition – or Energiewende – happen. Local financial institutions play a crucial role in this. They operate within national level incentive systems but unleash potentials far beyond the mere provision of capital. According to Sebastian Philipps, local German stakeholders can offer climate finance cases that deserve a closer look, also from an international perspective. Should Germany’s national decision makers thus pay closer attention to local developments if they want to keep the Energiewende going?