For GSS Energy Use chapter 10. Excerpt: ...Of all the developed
nations, few have pushed harder than Germany to find a solution to
global warming. ...wind turbines, standing as far as 60 miles from the
mainland, stretching as high as 60-story buildings and costing up to $30
million apiece. On some of these giant machines, a single blade roughly
equals the wingspan of the largest airliner in the sky, the Airbus
A380. By year’s end, scores of new turbines will be sending low-emission
electricity to German cities hundreds of miles to the south. ...Germans
will soon be getting 30 percent of their power from renewable energy
sources. ...The word the Germans use for their plan is starting to make
its way into conversations elsewhere: energiewende, the energy
transition. ...“I am convinced that wind and sun will be the central
sources of energy, not only in Germany but worldwide,” said Patrick
Graichen, who heads a think tank in Berlin, Agora Energiewende, devoted
to studying the shift. ...One recent day, under a brilliant California
sun, ...Lennar Corporation was putting solar panels on every house it
built. The prices of the panels have plunged 70 percent in the past five
years. That huge decline means solar power is starting to make more
economic sense, especially in parts of the United States with high
electricity prices. ...The decline in the cost of renewable power spells
potential trouble for companies that generate electricity. They make a
lot of their money at times of day when demand for power, and therefore
power prices, are high. Solar power, even a small amount, could be
especially disruptive, shaving wholesale prices during those peak
periods. ...some utilities, fearful of losing out as the power mix
changes, have started attacking rules that encourage solar panels.
Others are taking the opposite tack, jumping into the solar market
themselves. ...In Germany, where solar panels supply 7 percent of power
and wind turbines about 10 percent, wholesale power prices have crashed
during what were once the most profitable times of day.... http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/14/science/earth/sun-and-wind-alter-german-landscape-leaving-utilities-behind.html. By Justin Gillis, The New York Times. |
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