Environment: Content from Across the ABC


Date/Time 31 Jul 2015 3:59:06am
Thats is going on the somewhat foolish assumption that Germany has in fact replaced its nuclear plants with coal. If you had ever been to Germany, you would immediately notice that in most villages, half the houses have solar panels on the roof. There is huge wind farms in the North sea. Germany - unlike other countries - is actually serious with making the switch to renewable energy and has gone through considerable efforts to achieve it. It now has the highest rates of solar energy produced per capita in the world - despite the fact that their climate is less suitable than most others (definitely compared to Australia). So before ridiculing the Germans for their energy policy, it might be time to look up to them and learn what we could do better! The problem is not so much that solar is not achievable, the problem is that renewable energy will require a de-centralisation of power production, which requires both a grid that can handle it and a dividing up of the profits - and not everyone is interested in that...