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German energy transition : targets, current status, chances and challenges of an ambitious pathway
(2019)
With the "Energiewende", the German term for the transformation of the national energy system, the German government pursues ambitious goals, primarily but not only to reflect the climate change challenge and to react to the risks associated with the use of nuclear power plants. After launching the energy concept in mid-2011, which describes the "Energiewende" goals, Germany was perceived as an international pioneer in energy transition for many years and has been acknowledged for its braveness to combine ambitious greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation targets with a phase out program for nuclear power plants. In this context, this article asks where Germany’s energy transition currently stands, what is planned next and how far the set targets have been achieved or where more action is required to stick to this pathway.
This paper presents the results of a collaborative project on public acceptance of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in Germany, commissioned by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi). The project "Socio-economic Research on Acceptance of CCS" (April 2006 to March 2008) analyzed various aspects of public acceptance of CCS mainly in the national context of Germany. It was the first project to handle this subject matter. Public acceptance is one of the crucial factors for the implementation of CCS in the future.
Die grundsätzliche wirtschaftstheoretische Kritik am Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz greift zu kurz
(2010)
Der volkswirtschaftliche Nutzen der Förderung erneuerbarer Energien in Deutschland über das Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz (EEG) wurde wiederholt von verschiedenen Ökonomen und wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Institutionen in Frage gestellt. Dabei wird zumeist als wesentliches Argument vorgebracht, dass das EEG unnötige Kosten für die Gesellschaft verursache und spätestens seit der EU-weiten Umsetzung eines Handels mit CO2-Emissionszertifikaten überflüssig sei. Eine genauere Betrachtung zeigt, dass diese Argumentation zu kurz greift, nicht zuletzt weil sie wesentliche ökonomische Zusammenhänge vernachlässigt.
In welchem Verhältnis stehen Sozialpolitik und Nachhaltigkeit? Welche Schwierigkeiten entstehen im Spannungsfeld zwischen Nachhaltigkeit und Wirtschaftswachstum? Mit diesen und weiteren Fragen des Themenkomplexes beschäftigt sich Uta von Winterfeld gemeinsam mit mehreren Studierenden der Freien Universität Berlin.
Bis vor wenigen Jahren diskutierten vor allem Energieversorger
und Umweltverbände über die Abscheidung und Lagerung von CO2. Mittlerweile ist die öffentliche Wahrnehmung von CCS gestiegen. Dabei dürfte die umstrittene Technologie für Deutschlands Kraftwerke weit weniger bedeutsam sein als für energiehungrige Schwellenländer.
CCS is discussed in a broad sense throughout Europe. In this paper a cautious, conservative estimate of CO2 storage capacity for Germany and its neighbouring countries where CO2 emissions from Germany could possibly be stored (Netherlands, France, Denmark, Norway, UK and Poland) is presented. Such a lower limit calculation is necessary for orientation purposes for potential investors and political decision-makers.
Conservative CO2 sequestration capacity in deep saline aquifers for Germany is derived by the volumetric approach where parameters such as efficiency factor, CO2 density, porosity of the geological formation are of interest. It is assumed that every geological system is closed and thus an efficiency factor of 0.1 per cent (based on maximum pressure increase and total compressibility) for saline aquifers is applied. The capacity of German depleted oil and gas fields is based on cumulative recovery data and a sweep efficiency of 75 per cent. The storage capacity in the other considered countries, adjacent to Germany, are based on a critical review and adjustment of the results of the European reports JOULE II, GESTCO and GeoCapacity.
The conservative capacities for all countries together amount to 49 Gt CO2, from which Norway and the UK provide 36 Gt, all offshore in the North Sea. Compared to the emissions from large point sources in these countries during 40 years (47.6 Gt of CO2), a virtual balance is achieved. This can only be reached, if a large scale CO2 pipeline system is installed to connect these countries, especially Germany, to the large sinks in the North Sea. If additional restrictions like source-sink matching, acceptance issues and injection rates constraints are taken into account, the available storage space gets increasingly scarce.
