2022

The US is debating the regulatory process of modular nuclear power plants. The commissioning of a modular reactor helps to improve energy supply and reduces dependence on coal and gas. But to make it happen soon, the licensing process needs to be sped up. Building large, conventional nuclear power plants is slow and expensive. That […]

Federal government ministers want motorists to switch to electric vehicles. In doing so, they never miss an opportunity to point out the associated climate protection and, more recently, to reduce dependence on Russian energy sources. To this end, the government encouraged motorists to buy an electric vehicle with lavish subsidies. With so many arguments, one

Both to achieve climate protection targets and to reduce dependence on imports of natural gas, oil and coal, motorists should switch from combustion engines to electric drive. For this reason, the state subsidizes the purchase of an electric car with up to 6,000 euros. The question is whether an electric car really does produce zero

When politicians talk about a gas and oil embargo, they mainly talk about fuels, heating and power generation. It is impressive how little they know about the value chains in German industry. The fact that gas and oil are also important feedstocks for the chemical industry is virtually unnoticed. Gas and oil produce important basic

The drastic rise in energy costs is forcing not only private households to save, but also local authorities. Now, the first cities are planning savings in street lighting. High electricity price forces cities to save on street lighting Alexander Handschuh of the German Association of Towns and Municipalities considers reduced street lighting to be one

The horror scenario for power grid operators is a widespread power failure, a so-called blackout. A blackout can have many causes. Weather or natural disasters, hacker attacks, technical defects, sabotage or an overload of the networks can lead to it. The major network operators are now preparing for a large-scale blackout. Ampirion and TransnetBW, two

Large energy consumers from industry are considering limiting the use of gas-fired power plants. The goal is to conserve gas reserves. While the Association of the Industrial Energy and Power Industry (VIK) is backing coal-fired power plants, Habeck advocates a pragmatic approach. VIK relies on coal-fired power plants to conserve gas reserves The Association of

According to the coalition agreement, the traffic light regime wants to completely abolish the subsidy for electric cars from 2025. Currently, buyers of electric cars receive an environmental bonus of up to 9,000 euros. However, according to the coalition agreement, the subsidy for an electric car will only amount to 4000 euros from 2023 and

For a few days now, less and less gas has been coming to Germany. Now Ukraine has throttled the transport of Russian gas via the pipelines through its country. At the same time, Russia is threatening a gas embargo if the EU countries do not pay for the deliveries in roubles. A corresponding supply stop

With an oil embargo, the EU wants to stop its own oil imports from Russia so that Putin can no longer finance the war in Ukraine with the revenues. However, this measure is not nearly as effective as those responsible had imagined. Russia has already begun to sell its oil to Asia, as was quite

The Schwedt refinery in Brandenburg supplies fuel to the north-east. With a planned oil embargo against Russia, the city fears economic repercussions and therefore brings back memories of the turmoil after reunification. The minister is furious. “Druzhba” – Russian for “mateship” – is the name of one of the longest oil pipelines in the world,

In Germany and Europe, a complete raw materials embargo against Russia has been discussed for some time. All EU states agree on coal, but only Hungary and Slovakia are demanding transitional periods for oil. These raw materials are relatively easy to obtain from other regions of the world. However, economist Prof. Dr. Tom Krebs (University

In order to become independent of Russian natural gas, Economics Minister Habeck is counting on liquefied natural gas (LNG), but Germany does not have an LNG terminal. That is why he wants to have four LNG terminals built in Germany in a rush. The first facility in Wilhelmshaven is to go into operation by the