Comments on: What German energy supply looks like https://energytransition.org/2014/12/what-german-energy-supply-looks-like/ The Global Energiewende Mon, 07 May 2018 05:30:09 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.1.1 By: Domestic Electricity Supply Germany | Voltage Electricity https://energytransition.org/2014/12/what-german-energy-supply-looks-like/#comment-6733 Mon, 07 May 2018 05:30:09 +0000 http://energytransition.boellblog.org/?p=7090#comment-6733 […] What German energy supply looks like […]

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By: RRMeyer https://energytransition.org/2014/12/what-german-energy-supply-looks-like/#comment-4291 Sat, 10 Jan 2015 01:38:43 +0000 http://energytransition.boellblog.org/?p=7090#comment-4291 As for the headline, presumably they mean largest domestic energy source, which is sadly true.

Thanks for pointing out the differences between peaks and averages and electricity and energy. Not many renewabls enthusiasts do that.
Question on bioenergy: You claim that nearly half (44%) is from waste, but the link only refers to biogas. As far as I know liquid biofuels are 100% from crops and how much of wood pellets are from waste is also questionable, given that half the wood harvest is being burned in Germany.

On nuclear power, it is true that 100% of uranium is imported, but 2500 tons at a market value of 180 million Euros is enough for the current 100TWh annual generation.

That is a fuel cost of 0.0018 Euro/kWh. The fuel cost for coal is at least 12 times more. So even with 100% of lignite and 20% of hard coal mined domestically, the average import cost for coal power is much higher for coal than for nuclear.
Also the low cost and enormous density of uranium as fuel makes it practical and cheap to stockpile several years worth of demand if you worry about supply security.

Therefore nuclear power is for all practical purposes, a domestic energy source.
Breeder reactors would obviously remove the dependence on newly mined uranium completely, but only if they are actually used and not converted to sodding amusement parks.

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By: Hans https://energytransition.org/2014/12/what-german-energy-supply-looks-like/#comment-4290 Tue, 06 Jan 2015 12:57:41 +0000 http://energytransition.boellblog.org/?p=7090#comment-4290 There is a point that is overlooked in this article: Not all primary energy is created equal. For fossil fuels the primary energy is the heat released when burning the fuel. This heat has to be converted to electricity with losses of over 50%. For renewable energy sources the electricity output is counted as primary energy. This means that primary renewable energy is twice as useful as primary coal and lignite.

Comparing primary energy use of fossil and renewable energy sources is thus comparing apples and pears. It would make more sense to compare “final energy”, i.e. the form of energy that is used by the end-user.

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By: Jarmo https://energytransition.org/2014/12/what-german-energy-supply-looks-like/#comment-4289 Tue, 30 Dec 2014 06:42:45 +0000 http://energytransition.boellblog.org/?p=7090#comment-4289 Interesting numbers, especially in the light of German target of 60% of primary energy in 2050.

Assuming that energy consumption is cut 50%, hydro stays the same and nuclear is replaced by additional bioenergy, this would mean that wind and solar would have to generate roughly 10 times more energy in 2050 than today. That would require around 700 GW of PV and wind capacity if you just multiply the current numbers.

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