Over the past decade, journalists have taken Germany's transformation of renewable energy, which is energy, as a model for the global environment.
"Many poor countries have planned to build coal.
Power plants bring power to the people and are discussing whether they might be able to go beyond the fossil age from the very beginning and build a clean grid, "thanks to Energiewende, A reporter for The New York Times wrote on 2014.
Inspired by Germany, the United Nations and the World Bank have invested billions of dollars in renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and hydropower in developing countries such as Kenya.
But last year, Germany was forced to admit that it had to postpone its phase --
It will not be able to meet its 2020 greenhouse gas emission reduction commitment.
It announced plans to dismantle an ancient church and forest in order to mine coal underground.
After investors and advocates of renewable energy, including Gore and Greenpeace, criticized Germany, journalists defended Germany.
"Germany is somewhat below its emissions target because it is so ambitious," one said last summer.
"If the rest of the world has only made half of Germany's efforts, the future of our planet will not be so bleak," she wrote . ".
"So Germany, don't give up.
Also: Thank you.
But not only did Germany not meet its climate goals.
Its emissions are flat.
Line up from 2009.
Now, the country's largest Newsweek, Der Spiegel, has published a major article entitled "a bad job in Germany (
(German mur).
The magazine's cover shows the dark outline of Berlin, broken wind turbines and incomplete transmission towers.
"Energiewende-
The biggest political project since reunification
Frank doherman, Alexander Zheng, Stefan Schulz, Gerald trought from Der Spiegel, in their 5,700-
Story of investigation (
This article can be read here in English).
In the past five years alone, Energiewende has spent 32 billion euros in Germany ($36 billion)
Every year, opposition to renewable energy in rural Germany is increasing.
Der Spiegel reported that "politicians are afraid of resistance from citizens . "
"Almost no wind energy project has been defeated.
In response, politicians sometimes order to "bury the wires in the ground, but it's a lot more expensive and takes longer . "
As a result, the deployment of renewable energy and related transmission lines is slowing rapidly.
Less than half of the wind turbines (743)
Installed in 2018, installed in 2017, and added only 30 kilometers of new transmission in 2017.
Advocates of solar and wind power say cheaper solar panels and wind turbines will make the future growth of renewable energy cheaper than in the past, but there is reason to believe that the situation will be the opposite.
Der Spiegel, Germany's Der Spiegel, quoted recent estimates that it would cost Germany "3 euros ". 4 trillion ($3. 8 trillion)
", Three to five times more solar and wind energy than from 2000 to 2025 --fold by 2050.
Between 2000 and 2019, renewable energy in Germany grew from 7% to 35%.
Most of Germany's renewable energy comes from biomass, which scientists believe will cause pollution and environmental degradation like solar energy.
Of the 7,700 new transmission lines needed, only 8% were built.
Massive power storage is still inefficient and expensive.
The reporter noted that "a large part of the energy consumption --"
"And hydrogen projects with efficiency below 40%. . .
There is no viable business model to develop from this.
Meanwhile, 20-
Annual subsidies for wind, solar and biogas since 2000 will begin to end next year.
"Mirror Weekly" concluded: "The wind power boom has ended . "
All of this raises the question: if renewable energy cannot provide electricity cheaply to Germany, one of the world's richest and most technically advanced countries, how can developing countries like Kenya expect them to allow it to "surpass" fossil fuels?
The earliest and most complex 20th-century case of renewable energy for technical issues came from Germany and is widely regarded as Martin Hedger, the most influential philosopher in the 20th-century.
In his 1954 article, questions about technology, he condemned the view that nature is only a resource for human consumption.
He wrote, "the use of modern technology has brought unreasonable demand to nature, requiring it to provide energy that can be extracted and stored . . . . . . The air is now used to produce nitrogen, the Earth produces ore, and the ore produces uranium. . . Generate atomic energy.
According to Hedger, the solution is to bind human society and its economy to unreliable energy flows.
He even condemned Hydro.
The electric dams, because they control the natural environment, and praise the windmills because they "do not release energy in order to store it ".
These are not just aesthetic preferences.
Windmills have traditionally been useful to farmers, while large dams have allowed poor agricultural societies to industrialize.
In the United States, advocates of renewable energy have accepted the view of Hedger.
Barry Commoner of 1969 believes that in order to make modern civilization "in harmony with the ecosystem", a transition to renewable energy is needed.
"The goal of renewable energy is to turn modern industrial society into an agricultural society," Murray Bookchin said in his 1962 book, Our Synthetic Environment . ".
Bookchin acknowledged that his proposal "reminiscent of the image of cultural isolation and social stagnation, dates back to the historical journey of medieval and ancient agricultural societies.
But from around 2000, renewable energy began to reap high returns. tech luster.
Government and private investors have invested $2 trillion in solar, wind and related infrastructure, giving the impression that renewable energy is profitable in addition to subsidies.
Entrepreneurs like Elon Musk claim,
Cheap solar panels and electric cars can power energy civilization.
Reporters reported on the drop in battery costs with a breath-taking view that traditional power facilities would be "disrupted ".
"But marketing can't change the bad physical nature of resources anyway --
Intensive land-
Intensive renewable energy.
The solar power plant covers an area of 450 times that of the nuclear power plant, and the power generation of the wind power plant is 700 times that of the natural gas well.
Efforts to export energy to developing countries could cause even greater disruption.
Kenya's new wind farm has been inspired and funded by Germany and other countries.
It means Western countries, located on the main flight route of migratory birds.
Scientists say it will kill hundreds of eagles on the verge of extinction.
"This is one of the three most likely locations I 've seen in Africa where wind farms kill threatened birds," explained a biologist . ".
In response, the developers of wind farms have done what Europeans have long done in Africa, that is, hiring organizations that ostensibly represent Eagles and communities destined to fail, rather than fighting the project.
Wind farms in Kenya will not be able to "cross" fossil fuels.
On the contrary, all of these unreliable wind energy has the potential to increase electricity prices and make it slower for Kenya to get rid of poverty.
Like many conservation campaigns, Hyde will also hate what Energiewende has become: an excuse to destroy the natural landscape and the local community.
The opposition to renewable energy comes from the people of the country, who believe that compared to the urban international elites who think their solar roof and solar roof are signs of virtue, Hyde is more authentic and "grounded"
By 2025, the Germans will spend $580 billion on renewable energy and related infrastructure, and they are very proud of the energy civilization.
"This is a gift for the world," a renewable energy advocate told the Times . ".
Sadly, many Germans seem to believe that the billions of dollars they spend on renewable energy will save them.
"The Germans will eventually feel like they have disappeared from the world --
World destroyer of the 20 th century-
The Savior of the 21 st century, "one reporter pointed out.
Many Germans will, like Der Spiegel, claim that the transition to renewable energy is only "poor", but that is not the case.
The transition to renewable energy is disastrous, as modern industrialists, however romantic, do not want to return to their old days. modern life.
The reason why renewable energy can't power modern civilizations is because they are never intended.
An interesting question is why someone thinks they can.