The claim sounds astonishing. Reduce a nation’s CO2 emissions by 80 percent in next the forty years to combat global warming.
But this is exactly what German utility RWE AG says the fatherland is capable of using a combination of wind power, carbon-capture technology for coal and nuclear power.
Use of nuclear, coal capture and wind power is recommended
According to the electric utility’s study, wind power both on and off shore holds the greatest potential among renewable energy sources in Germany. Wind power will become “economically efficient” in the near future while geo-thermal and solar energy will rely on large public subsidies for a long time to come, the study says.
Coal will remain a source of electricity generation for years to come. But plant efficiency should improve to 53 percent by 2030 from 38 percent today. That will cut CO2 production by 28 percent. The reduction could reach 90 percent with carbon capture and storage technology, but at a high cost.
Nuclear power present provides 27 percent of Germany’s power. The report suggests extending the life of plants scheduled to phase out and claims uranium supplies will last 200 years at today consumption rate.
Perhaps not surprisingly, RWE’s prediction relies a great deal on current infrastructure – nuclear and coal, in particular. In this sense, it is not very imaginative. And it dodges the possibilities of technical breakthroughs in hydrogen, solar and elsewhere.
But it is reassuring that even with a laissez faire approach to energy responsibility, global warming might be kept in check.
