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Heating with hydrogen? – “too scarce, expensive and inefficient”.
Energy transition through green hydrogen? Getting away from natural gas has long been one of Germany’s goals. Until now, the reason for this was the climate. Now there is also the fact that Germany wants to become less dependent on Russia. Now the question is whether hydrogen is really a conceivable alternative for heating. Natural…
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German Environmental Aid sues for “green-washing
The German Environmental Aid (DUH) is taking legal action against advertisements for environmentally friendly products, as it often classifies them as consumer fraud, or green-washing. A number of well-known brands and companies are affected. Even the names of detergents convey to customers that they are “sustainable” products. “Pro Climate” is the name of the dm…
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Germany’s absurd climate policy
Germany’s climate policy is increasingly becoming a laughing stock abroad. As we have already reported in our article “The world’s stupidest energy policy“, the Wall Street Journal has already expressed its criticism. Now the “Neue Züricher Zeitung” also reports on the absurd procedure in the Reinhardswald near Kassel. Ancient forest to make way for wind…
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The emergence of interconnected grids
As we have already written in our article “The beginnings of the electrification of Germany“, electric current was initially only needed for lighting. Each of these lighting installations had its own generator, which was driven either by a steam engine or a stationary gas engine. In 1888, Nikola Tesla patented the first electric motor for…
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Dispute over LNG terminals: Habeck vs. environmental associations
The Green Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, Robert Habeck, of all people, has to push the construction of LNG (liquefied natural gas) terminals. In doing so, he encounters strong resistance from environmental associations. Green politicians oppose green environmental associations Habeck has to solve the energy problem in the most difficult crisis of Germany’s post-war…
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Gas storage levels in Germany: How secure is our supply?
Russian gas is currently flowing into the local gas storage facilities (as of May 2022) and the gas storage levels are slowly increasing. LNG could contribute to substitution as early as this year, after Economics Minister Habeck was able to get the legal basis for an accelerated expansion of LNG terminals through the Bundestag and…
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Oil company Saudi Aramco makes 40 billion more profit
The sharp rise in crude oil prices brought the Saudi Arabian oil company Saudi Aramco a record profit in the first quarter of 2022. Compared to the previous year, the group increased its revenues by a good 82 percent in the same period. The additional revenue amounts to 39.5 billion US dollars. In the same…
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Electricity price continues to rise despite elimination of EEG surcharge
With the elimination of the EEG levy on the electricity price, the Federal Government wants to relieve citizens of the burden of energy costs from July 2022. The EEG levy, with the corresponding share of VAT, currently amounts to around 4.4 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh). A sample household with a consumption of 4000 kWh…
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Ministry of Economics plans to dismantle natural gas network
As participants report in the Welt, Patrick Graichen, at an event, is said to have called on representatives of municipal utilities to plan the dismantling for their natural gas network. Graichen is State Secretary in Habeck’s Ministry of Economics. Graichen referred to the timetable for the decarbonisation of Germany. According to Graichen, there should be…
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Secret charging stations for electric cars in “Dentist’s Alley”: Is grid collapse imminent?
There are clearly many more private charging stations for electric cars in Germany than the grid operators are aware of. However, the utilities fear major challenges, because they have to adapt their infrastructure to electric charging. The highest density of e-cars, and thus of unregistered charging stations, is probably in the better residential areas of…
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Prices for used electric cars: development in the first half of 2022
An astonishing change has taken place in the prices of used electric cars between December 2021 and May 2022: While just six months ago there was a drastic drop in prices even for young used e-cars, some models are now more expensive than new cars. How is this possible? Status December 2021 There have been…
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Russia stops gas deliveries to Finland
According to the Finnish energy company Gasum, Russia stopped gas deliveries to Finland on 21 May. This was also confirmed by the Russian state-owned company Gazprom Export. Gazprom Export refers to outstanding payments for gas delivered in April. The Finnish company Gasum has confirmed that it does not accept the Russian demand to pay for…
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Oil embargo: Greece and Malta prevent tanker ban
The planned oil embargo against Russia is increasingly threatening to come to nothing. Although several states are already no longer importing Russian oil, Russia is selling more oil than before the war. Now the EU wants to ban European tankers from transporting Russian oil. However, Greece, Malta and Cyprus do not want to participate in…
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France is heading for massive power supply problems
In France, the state-owned energy company Electricite de France SA (EDF) has revised its nuclear power target downwards for the third time this year. The power supply in France is thus becoming increasingly critical. The nuclear power plants operated by EDF form the backbone of the European interconnected system. France is traditionally an electricity exporter…
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How can the introduction of small nuclear power plants be accelerated?
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…