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| 1 |
ID:
149922
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| Summary/Abstract |
Over the last 50 years, German energy policy has ranged from strong enthusiasm for both coal and nuclear energy to deep skepticism. The most dramatic changes with respect to energy policies have occurred as a response to nuclear accidents, yet the accidental and unintended effects of coal policies are also important in influencing the trajectory. The newly emerging climate debate prevented the coal industry from acting as a substitute for the diminishing share of nuclear power. In 2011 the conservative government announced the Energiewende (‘energy transformation’) and decided to reduce the amount of fossil fuels from 80% of the energy supply to 20% by 2050. However, while the verdict on nuclear was unequivocal with a final phase-out date of 2022, the share of coal in the electricity market did not decrease and the amount of carbon dioxide released into the air slightly increased from 2011 to 2013. There are growing conflicts over the immediate costs and practicalities of coal replacement. Consequently, the future of coal in Germany is still relatively open and contested.
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| 2 |
ID:
166972
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This paper assesses the energy transition in Germany from 1990 to 2017 with a focus on the politics and energy policies of the three German Chancellors. Its aim is to investigate the factors underlying the outcomes from a socio-political perspective and through this offer insight as to energy policy reforms that may be transferrable to other governments. We reveal the incremental and politically pivotal role of grassroots movements against nuclear power forming the catalyst and ongoing driver for Germany's energy transition - the Energiewende. Energiewende harbors a compelling socio-technical experiment based on government-led policy-driven structural changes to the energy system that has concurrently supported a heavily industrialized economy. Despite higher energy costs, borne disproportionally by residents, the energy vision and social experiment shared decadal and multi government cross-partisan political and community support. This socio-political policy stability provides a notable point of difference when comparing the energy transitions of lagging nations such as Australia that reveals the criticality of policy certainty to support investment towards new models of clean energy generation and distribution.
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| 3 |
ID:
149928
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The German Energiewende, or energy transition, is an ambitious suite of policy measures which aim to decarbonize the German economy and achieve an almost complete transition to an energy system based on renewable energy by mid-century. This article contends that the energy transition is also a social process. We develop a provisional local ethnography of the Energiewende, an account of the lived experience of this social process from the perspective of villagers in Atterwasch, Kerkwitz and Grabko, in the region of Lusatia in Eastern Germany. Their experiences are particularly salient, since their villages are facing demolition to make way for the expansion of the nearby Jänschwalde coal mine. The villagers’ struggle to defend their homes highlights a fundamental contradiction in the energy transition, sometimes referred to as the “coal conundrum”. The contest over the future of coal in Lusatia can be seen as a struggle to control key cultural ‘scripts’ or narratives, of home, belonging, ecological modernization, climate change, and democratic deficit. Our research suggests that any resolution of the coal conundrum, and effective implementation of the Energiewende, must be informed by an understanding of these scripts, and how they underpin the motivations and mentalities of different social actors.
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| 4 |
ID:
174977
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| Summary/Abstract |
Public participation is often part of planning and decision-making processes relating to the German energy transformation (Energiewende). Factors influencing the active involvement of individuals have not been fully investigated, although these factors may impact the outcome of participatory decision making. However, a few concepts are discussed relating to what kind of people participate in governance processes: political efficacy, place attachment, value orientation, and sociodemographic characteristics. We further assumed that the aspects of attitudes toward renewable energy technologies, general knowledge about environment and energy, specific knowledge about electricity-generating technologies, personality strength, and living situation might influence people's participation in planning and decision making related to energy issues. In this study, we examine the relevance of these concepts based on a survey for which (n=) 2400 respondents were recruited from an access panel to build up a quota sample on the three crossed characteristics: gender, age, and school education. Many of the respondents are aware of participation options but very few become actively engaged in participation processes. The multivariate analyses conducted showed that attitudes towards renewable energy technologies, value orientation towards nature, political efficacy, personality strength, and individuals' specific knowledge have a strong influence on whether someone becomes actively involved or not.
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| 5 |
ID:
150381
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The nuclear melt-down in Fukushima resulted in diverging energy policy decisions across the world where Germany decided to opt out of nuclear electricity production. Yet, the government’s decision-making framework for energy policy decisions does not accurately reflect important drivers for the strategy change. This paper presents the Energy Crossroads framework as a more comprehensive tool to analyse the drivers and impacts of the nuclear phase-out. 20 expert interviews were performed across business participants as well as policy makers in the national and international energy context. Results show that Germany has adopted an environmental justice, rather than energy security, stance in their nuclear phase out policy, with significant long-term consequences.
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| 6 |
ID:
150734
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| Summary/Abstract |
In 2010, Germany agreed a plan to increase the share of renewables in power consumption to 80% by 2050, and in 2011 the decision was taken to phase-out nuclear power by 2022. This policy is now widely known as the “Energiewende”. While many global observers consider this program to be primarily driven by the need to tackle climate change, the precise political goals of the Energiewende are, by and large, unclear. In our study we compiled a list of 14 goals put forward in political debates and conducted a “mapping” survey among more than 50 policy experts. We asked them to prioritize the goals based on their personal views and provide arguments for their rankings in ensuing interviews. Our main findings are as follows: (i) a large majority named climate protection among the top-level goals of the Energiewende; at the same time, around 80% of all participants also identified additional goals; (ii) when asked if the Energiewende would make sense even if climate change did not exist, two thirds of the participants agreed, which, when taken with the first finding, demonstrates that the goals and motivations driving the Energiewende are more complex than often assumed. We conclude that for the sake of effective and efficient policies and ever rising climate policy ambition, a public debate and clear specification of the top-level goals are indispensable.
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