Roger Pielke Jr.'s Blog: Germany's Burned Bridge - 0 views
rogerpielkejr.blogspot.com/...germanys-burned-bridge.html
Nuclear Climate Science Disaster Politics Governmentality
shared by Weiye Loh on 02 Jun 11
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The politics of Merkelism are based on two principles. The first is that, if the people want it, it must be right. The second is that whatever is useful to the people must also be useful to the chancellor.
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I have quickly calculated the implications for carbon dioxide emissions of the German decision, based on a projection of the 2020 electricity mix from RWI as reported by the Financial Times. These estimates are shown in the graph to the left.
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Using these numbers and the simplified carbon dioxide intensities from The Climate Fix I calculate the carbon dioxide emissions from Germany electricity generation, assuming constant demand, will increase by 8% from 2011 to 2020. The Breakthrough Institute also runs some numbers. See Reuters as well.
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In The Climate Fix I lauded Germany's forward-looking energy policies, in which they had decided to use the technologies of today as a resource from which to build a bridge to tomorrow's energy technology (German readers, please see this translated essay as well). Germany's government has now burned that bridge by announcing the phase-out of nuclear power by 2022.