
Germany Phased Out Nuclear Power and Deadly Emissions Spiked - n0pe_p0pe
https://www.wired.com/story/germany-rejected-nuclear-powerand-deadly-emissions-spiked/
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xxgreg
The data paints a different picture.

[https://www.cleanenergywire.org/sites/default/files/styles/g...](https://www.cleanenergywire.org/sites/default/files/styles/gallery_image/public/paragraphs/images/historic-
emissions-de-1850-2018.jpg?itok=uSE6qxaS)

[https://www.cleanenergywire.org/sites/default/files/styles/g...](https://www.cleanenergywire.org/sites/default/files/styles/gallery_image/public/paragraphs/images/fig2a-gross-
power-production-germany-1990-2019-source.png?itok=gfWUQdcp)

[https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-
maps/daviz/co2-emission-i...](https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-
maps/daviz/co2-emission-intensity-5#tab-
googlechartid_chart_11_filters=%7B%22rowFilters%22%3A%7B%7D%3B%22columnFilters%22%3A%7B%22pre_config_ugeo%22%3A%5B%22European%20Union%20\(current%20composition\)%22%5D%7D%7D)

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boomboomsubban
All three of those graphs show the spike around 2010.

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skitout
For years the share of coal in the German energy mix had been in decline, and
this trend continued after the start of the nuclear phase out.

So "nuclear power was mostly replaced with power from coal" could be
misleading...

(Plus the price of coal had played a role for some spikes of coal consumption
some years, which is independent of the phase out...)

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foobar20200124
The article does not mention that in addition to nuclear power plants we (over
here in Germany) are also phasing out coal plants.

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s5ma6n
The nuclear phase out will be finished in 2022 but coal phase out is 2038. 18
more years, 1 more generation away.

Coal+Lignite production is 170.9 TWh. Current nuclear production is 75.2 TWh
and all renewables combined are 242.6 TWh.

So Germany has to find 75.2 TWh in 2 years and 170.9 TWh in 18 years. In the
last 5 years, renewables are increased only by 50 TWh.

So, it will be extremely expensive to cover all these power requirements in
renewables only. What do you think will happen? Either Germany will start
buying power or buying gas to fund new natural gas power plants.

In any way, phasing out nuclear power is one of the worst ideas Germany has
ever executed.

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skitout
1)You forget the energy efficiency / less energy consumption part

2)You forget the demand-response and energy storage part

3)" it will be extremely expensive to cover all these power requirements in
renewables only" ; a lot of existing power plants are old would had been
closed anyways... and renewable are becoming the cheapest new capacity, so I
don't seen the extremely expensive part

I am not a big fan of this German "energy transition"... but often I find
sloppy the critics addressed to this transition

~~~
s5ma6n
1) Energy efficiency will surely be better over time but population is also
increasing and migration rate to Germany is increasing as well. So this will
probably even out the efficiency improvements.

2) Energy storage is a very difficult and expensive task. Germany is able to
store energy around 7.6 GW[1], this number is comical next to the TWh numbers
we are discussing.

3) You should perhaps read a bit more about this here [2] to be informed. It
is quite obvious and proven from technological perspective and material costs
that renewable energy is right now more expensive to produce and still causes
more human fatalities than nuclear energy.

[1] : [https://www.cleanenergywire.org/dossiers/energy-storage-
and-...](https://www.cleanenergywire.org/dossiers/energy-storage-and-
energiewende) [2] : [https://www.cleanenergywire.org/factsheets/how-much-does-
ger...](https://www.cleanenergywire.org/factsheets/how-much-does-germanys-
energy-transition-cost)

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imtringued
It obviously delayed the shutdown of coal plants but there was no emissions
spike.

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shapiro92
title of post is missleading and article doesnt do a job describing the status
of germany's energy sources.

