Is germany now in a “energy poverty”? Is their new technique for lowering carbon emission jeopardizing the home owners of Germany? According to an online article from the Canada Free Press “Germany, Poland and Great Britain were responsible for 56% of the greenhouse gas emission increase in 2010 (a 2.4% jump from 2009)” (http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/47243) Is Germany trying to have their economy drop to decrease emissions? Raising prices on things is a great way for people to stop using them or decrease the damage that’s being done, but sometimes that leads to other issues, like having your power shut off because you couldn’t pay the bills. Germany’s homes are being hit hard, but what about their businesses’? These new policies that the German government is putting out could start to really put a toll on other German industries. Hans Heinrich Driftmann, president of the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) said in an article that the energy supply is now “the top risk for Germany as a location for business.”(http://reason.org/blog/show/germanys-green-subsidies-shutting-d) Do you think that Germany is doing the right thing by raising those prices? Maybe it will be better in the long run. But what if the path they’re trying to take gets disturbed by the reality of the energy crisis within the homes and businesses? In the Book Beyond Smoke and Mirrors by Burton Richter, he talks about the issue at hand with greenhouse gas and how the turn it has taken in the past decades. If you’ve read the first few chapters, you might applaud germany for their effort but I don’t think it’s quite the right step to fixing the problem. From my knowledge of the German Green Energy Policy, I think it’s doing more harm than good at this point.