It is no longer a disputed fact among experts that humans are strongly altering the natural course of the planet with our industrial activities. These industries that continue to make life better and more comfortable for people in all different kinds of societies. However these advances are also drastically harming the only Earth that we have to make our livings on. Rampant CO2 emissions, waste disposal (or lack thereof), water pollution, and chemical tainting of natural resources that we are also rapidly using up are some of the many threats facing our planet today. Germany has emerged in the past couple decades as both a leader and innovator in usage of green technology and implementation of green energy policies.
A look at how Germany has been implementing green energy policies in a serious widespread fashion takes us back to 2000, which marks the finalization of a system of government issued mandates known as “feed-in tariffs” under the Renewable Energy Sources Act. These tariffs are a sort of contract between the government and those who choose to develop and utilize renewable energy methods to generate electricity. Individuals, corporations, farmers, private investors (basically anyone willing) can enter into a tariff agreement. The investor is given a promise that the government will reimburse them a certain amount based on the amount of energy they produce from renewable energy sources. A tariff contract will be guaranteed usually for about 20 years. This system is a useful one for green energy advancement because it places an incentive for everyday people to invest in these technologies rather than leaving them at the whim of a politician or political party (as in the US).
These tariffs have been seemingly effective thus far. The amount of electricity generated from 2000 to 2006 by means of renewable energy sources nearly doubled from 6.3% to 12%. It is estimated that up to 100 million tons of CO2 emissions in total (including electricity generating, heating, and fuel used for transportation) were avoided in 2006 as a direct result of the Renewable Energy Sources Act. Germans are actually investing in the technologies too, an estimated 9 billion Euros were invested in 2006 according to the World Watch Institute. These figures show great promise for the green policy of Germany, and since the Act is based on the voluntary investment of individuals and corporations, the country hopes to raise the percent of energy generated from renewable technologies to 45% by 2030. They have already surpassed their goal of 12.5% for 2010. The wildest ambition is to make their system run on 100% renewable energy by 2050.
However reviews for Germany’s green policies are not positive across the board. Complaints over waste disposal efficiency (only 36% of recycled plastic waste is actually required to be recycled, the remaining is usually incinerated), water limitations, and energy efficient lighting and domestic insulation show that there is no easy way to completely overhaul a country into a perfectly green place. The tariff system has also failed solar energy companies. Solon, a solar energy company in Germany, filed for bankruptcy in 2011 due to an inability to pay back the 275 million Euros in loans it needed to take as part of the feed-in tariff system. Part of the mandate includes forcing companies to pay a much higher price on renewable energy sources than commercial value.
Overall, Germany serves as a wonderful example for how to implement certain aspects of environmentally friendly policies. A system that encourages the individual to care about investing in green energy is a system that will see advances in the industry much faster than a system such as we have in the United States. While some politicians are actually still debating with one another whether or not global warming is a real thing, the US is becoming further and further indebted to fossil fuels while almost completely ignoring the potential of cleaner energies such as wind and solar. However to say that Germany is an example to follow step by step would be foolhardy. Some of the policies in Germany have put great strain on green energy businesses and on the individual, some policies are downright hypocritical when it comes to being eco-friendly (such as a mandate on energy efficient light bulbs that not only utilize dangerous mercury to operate, but ultimately wind up in a landfill as hazardous waste when they are disposed of).
One thing that is absolutely certain however of Germany’s attempts at going green is that they are legitimate attempts to decelerate our impact on the planet. The Germans recognize the harm that is being done and are at least trying to remedy the issue, rather than pushing it to the back of the desk and tabling it as is the current state of the US green energy policy. People can wait as long as they want to start caring about the environment, but the planet won’t wait to show us in dramatic fashion the errors of our ways.
Sources:
Janet L. Sawin, World Watch Institute – Germany Leads Way on Renewables, Sets 45% Target by 2030. 2012 – http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5430
The Wall Street Journal – Germany’s Green Energy Fiasco. Dec 16th, 2011 – http://www.thegwpf.org/germanys-green-energy-fiasco/
Center for Study of Responsive Law – How Germany is Getting to 100 Percent Renewable Energy. Nov 15th, 2012 – http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/how_germany_is_getting_to_100_percent_renewable_energy_20121115/
Spiegal Online, Alexander Neubacher. Germany’s Failing Environmental Projects. March 15th, 2012 – http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/germany-s-environmental-protection-policies-fail-to-achieve-goals-a-821396-2.html
Germany.info, Natalie Kauther (managing editor). – http://www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/en/07__Climate__Business__Science/01__Climate__Energy__Envir/01__Gov__Climate/__Government__Climate.htm
I think you’re right, Germany does seem to set a good example with what are legitimate attempts to reduce the impact of what our energy consumption is doing to our planet. Like anything to this magnitude however, its going to take sometime for many industrialized countries to catch up with Germany.
Wow, this might be too well-written for me to comment on, but I’ll give it a shot. This is the one blog post that I came across that actually criticizes part of Germany’s energy plan. I didn’t know about the hypocrisy within the finer details of Germany’s eco-friendly plans, with the mercury-filled lightbulbs of doom. While I’m not surprised over the lack of an unanimous devotion to their plans, I didn’t expect negativity towards some of the programs in Germany to be as widespread as you’ve suggested. Very well-written and moving. An absolute masterpiece. Roger Ebert gives it 4 stars.
All Germany’s energy policy is well put together. It says the pros and cons, specially in how much debt germany is going to be in the upcoming years. Also, thinking about how families in that country are already struggling to pay there electric bills is such a problem.