Nuclear phase-out can make Germany trailblazer

zidangus

German Chancellor Angela Merkel believes that phasing out nuclear power will make Germany a trailblazer for renewable energy. Well I agree with her. Its a very bold move, and one I hope succeeds so that other countries such as the UK follow suit, and start to invest the billions they do into nuclear into renewable energy instead. I am a nuclear physicist and understand fully the pros and cons of nuclear energy, and the impact it can have on the environment, and to be honest I would prefer that more effort and money was put into developing renewable sources using small local companies than into these horrible multinational energy companies such as EDF, who are a law unto themself especially in developing countries who have resources that they want, moreover, these companies have been allowed to fix the prices in the energy markets for their own profit for way to long, with politicians turning blind eyes or even on the payroll. So hats of to Germany for not caving in to pressure from these profit driven multinational companies.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13597627

jll

Germany is already a trailblazer with the highest recycling rate in the world.

zidangus

Good point jll, I did not know that
I wish more countries would follow their example.

person

I would prefer that more effort and money was put into developing renewable sources using small local companies than into these horrible multinational energy companies such as EDF

Yeah, I'd also like to see a greater focus on more local, independent sources of renewable energy. Something like 10% or 15% of energy generation is lost in transmission lines. If all homes and business could generate some or all of their own energy needs there would be all sorts of benefits.

SpinyNorman2

German Chancellor Angela Merkel believes that phasing out nuclear power will make Germany a trailblazer for renewable energy. Well I agree with her. Its a very bold move, and one I hope succeeds so that other countries such as the UK follow suit, and start to invest the billions they do into nuclear into renewable energy instead.

I heard they are going to replace nuclear capacity with coal - is that a good thing?

Spiny

DaltheJigsaw

I think this is awesome!

Mountains

Sadly, we're not at a stage where there is truly a viable alternative to nuclear. I'm not a big fan of nuclear, but we're left with picking the lesser of the evils. And overall, nuclear (despite the recent events in Japan) is still probably the best of the bad alternatives...

Equally sadly, the very fact that Germany has elected to do this will very probably re-entrench the staunch supporters of nuclear in the US. Anything the Europeans do is automatically bad (probably socialist/liberal), and thus by definition the opposite of what the US should do. Just look at social safety nets and health care.

Mountains

If all homes and business could generate some or all of their own energy needs there would be all sorts of benefits.

Not least of which for me is that I would be able to tell American Electric Power Corporation to take their coal and make soup with it, which would make me very, very happy. I'm forced to buy electricity from one of *the* worse corporate citizens on the planet, which distresses me a great deal. The nanosecond I'm able to cut their wire permanently by using geothermal, wind, solar, and whatever new technology may be available when I build my next house, you can bet I'm cutting the wires.

zidangus

Its interesting to read that France may have to shut some of its nuclear reactors due to the low rainfall we have experienced in Europe this spring

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/may/31/europe-dry-spring-power-blackouts?intcmp=122