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How Germany Is Getting to 100 Percent Renewable Energy

by MoneyMagnetMagnate
12 replies
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How Germany Is Getting to 100 Percent Renewable Energy - Truthdig

Germans are baffled that the United States has not taken the same path. Not only is the U.S. the wealthiest nation in the world, but it’s also credited with jump-starting Germany’s green movement 40 years ago.
“This is a very American idea,” Arne Jungjohann, a director at the Heinrich Boll Stiftung Foundation (HBSF), said at a news conference Tuesday morning in Washington, D.C. “We got this from Jimmy Carter.”
The money the government uses to pay producers comes from a monthly surcharge on utility bills that everyone pays, similar to a rebate. Customers pay an additional cost for the renewable energy fund and then get that money back from the government, at a profit, if they are producing their own energy.
In the end, ratepayers control the program, not the government. This adds consistency, Davidson says. If the government itself paid, it would be easy for a new finance minister to cut the program upon taking office. Funding is not at the whim of politicians as it is in the U.S.
“Everyone has skin in the game,” says writer Osha Gray Davidson. “The movement is decentralized and democratized, and that’s why it works. Anybody in Germany can be a utility.”
  • Profile picture of the author Kurt
    Originally Posted by MoneyMagnetMagnate View Post


    What frustrates me even more is the the US has lots and lots more sunshine and wind than Germany does, yet they are making it work.
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    • Profile picture of the author seasoned
      Originally Posted by Kurt View Post

      What frustrates me even more is the the US has lots and lots more sunshine and wind than Germany does, yet they are making it work.
      Yeah, when I was a kid, I started to see this take off in LITTLE gadgets, and my class actually saw a film. I think it was from SHELL of all places, that spoke about photovoltaic cells. I THOUGHT about writing a letter to a "big shot"(I can't say who, but many here could guess), asking him why he wasn't promoting PHOTOVOLTAIC! I decided that he wouldn't bother, and never even bothered to write the letter. I wish I had, if only to show a letter from a young kid written SO LONG AGO on a subject we are STILL discussing!

      Did YOU know that the PENTAGON has a photovoltaic solar project? And I say photovoltaic to separate it from the distant cousin many detractors use. photovoltaic is used on some watches, calculators, solar car fans, to power homes, that australian solar car race, and in that pentagon project. It is relatively cheap and easy and requires essentially NO maintenance. The other method could really only be used by houses, or something larger, and is basically for heating.

      BTW that "big shot" DID lose points in this area. He was parodied by SNL! And SOME people in the US HAVE used thermopiles as well. Few talk about them, but if you have something that will generate heat, you might as well get some power out of it.

      Steve

      Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author taskemann
    I have a brilliant idea!

    Why not place water turbines inside existing water pipes that goes downhill? I don't mean the tiny water pipes in your house, but the large main pipes like these ones:




    In that way, we could easily generate 100% renewable energy because there is a lot of pressure in these pipes!

    Thank me if you liked the idea
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    • Profile picture of the author MoneyMagnetMagnate
      [DELETED]
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      • Profile picture of the author taskemann
        Originally Posted by MoneyMagnetMagnate View Post

        Good idea! We have some of those hydro turbines now for water that runs downhill... here we call them "dams"! :rolleyes: We call the pipes "rivers"...
        (jk)
        Are you meaning those?:


        We have those here as well. I think they produce 95% of the country's electricity and the other 5% comes from wind turbines.

        But I'm not thinking about them. I mean the existing water pipes that you get water from in your home. If we can place water turbines inside them at the places they go downhill, we can generate a lot of power without making any new interventions in the nature.
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        • Profile picture of the author MoneyMagnetMagnate
          Originally Posted by taskemann View Post

          Are you meaning those?:


          We have those here as well. I think they produce 95% of the country's electricity and the other 5% comes from wind turbines.

          But I'm not thinking about them. I mean the existing water pipes that you get water from in your home. If we can place water turbines inside them at the places they go downhill, we can generate a lot of power without making any new interventions in the nature.
          I know it's a good idea...I was just teasin' :rolleyes: (nice damn dam pic btw...)

          Here's another story I just saw though...
          Google invests $75M in a 50MW wind farm, has contributed almost $1B to the renewable energy sector
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    • Profile picture of the author MariusPrice
      Originally Posted by taskemann View Post

      I have a brilliant idea!

      Why not place water turbines inside existing water pipes that goes downhill? I don't mean the tiny water pipes in your house, but the large main pipes like these ones:




      In that way, we could easily generate 100% renewable energy because there is a lot of pressure in these pipes!

      Thank me if you liked the idea
      I saw something like this on discovery long time ago and works like charm
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      • Profile picture of the author taskemann
        [DELETED]
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        • Profile picture of the author seasoned
          You said: Fan! Förbannad skit at alt redan ska va uppfunnit redan

          YEAH, SHOOT, HUH! Oh well, the pipe idea was impractical. It would slow down the water, and how do you put some turbine there. You COULD open thm up and have like a waterwheel, but.... And you could really only have one, because more would exascerbate the problem. For the dam, it is larger so more turbines won't affect it much, and people probably don't care anyway.

          Steve
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          • Profile picture of the author taskemann
            Originally Posted by seasoned View Post

            You said: Fan! Förbannad skit at alt redan ska va uppfunnit redan
            My auto translator failed at that moment and I didn't notice it :p
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  • Profile picture of the author lcombs
    Because Germany isn't subject to billionaire oil men lining the pockets of their political leaders.
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  • Profile picture of the author Joe Mobley
    100% dependent on renewable energy. Stupid... damn stupid!

    Thank you for your time.

    Joe Mobley


    Originally Posted by MoneyMagnetMagnate View Post

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    Follow Me on Twitter: @daVinciJoe
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Ten
    That is an amazing story, and I'm so glad that Germany has moved in that direction!
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  • Profile picture of the author RyanEagle
    Big oil. That's all, really.
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