Stardate 20011214.1619 (On Screen): As a sop to the Greens, Germany has passed a law mandating that all nuclear power plants in Germany will be closed within 20 years. And, lest we forget, the Greens also want to limit the use of fossil fuels. So just where
will Germany get its electrical power?
There are a number of possibilities here. First off (and in my opinion most likely): twenty years is a long time, and by then the Greens will have collapsed as people come to see the negative side of their programs, and this ban will be rescinded. (Or this ban will become a dead letter when Germany cedes most of its federal power to the EU.) Another possibility is that Germany will make up the shortfall with increased use of coal powered electrical generation. Or Germany will import a large part of its power from elsewhere, where it will also be generated with coal. (Which is to say that Germany is going to be exporting some of its pollution.) Yet another possibility is that German industry will go into decline as power costs skyrocket through scarcity, and as a result the German economy will tank. What won't happen is what the Greens expect: do more with less. Conservation is not going to make enough difference to make up for the shortfall, and "alternative renewable energy sources" won't, either. (discuss)
