Germany's Green Energy Policy

Germany's green energy policy is widely considered to be one of the most innovative renewable energy plans in the world. Despite this reputation, there still remains much criticism concerning the country's obsessive focus with becoming a trailblazer for green energy. The country aims to produce nearly 35% of all its energy from renewable sources by the year 2020. Subsequently, government officials have been shutting down a vast majority of the country's nuclear plants in favor of utilizing more renewable sources.

Most notably, Germany has employed the use of wind turbines along it's Northern coasts to transport energy throughout the country through a strategic national grid. Because these turbines are placed along the country's shores, they tend to be more cost-effective and dependable than turbines located elsewhere in the country. However, because these turbines aren't centrally-located, Germans are burdened with costlier taxes to support the country's extensive national grid.

The country has also undertaken many other opportunities to utilize renewable energy. For example, solar energy will largely be obtained by way of Italy from their solar panels in the deserts of North Africa. However, like the wind turbines in the North,
transporting and dispersing this energy from the South will entail additional high costs.

Because renewable energy sources aren't always consistent (i.e. it isn't always windy and/or sunny), there still needs to be a focus on maintaining "old-fashioned" and reliable ways of producing energy. Bringing green energy to large, centrally-located cities such as Frankfurt proves to be too costly on taxpayers. In my own opinion, German officials should focus more on finding equilibrium between cost-effectiveness and energy sustainability. There simply seems to be too much hype surrounding the concept of utilizing renewable energy without regard to fiscal practicality.

Sources:
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2011/03/new-record-for-german-renewable-energy-in-2010??cmpid=WNL-Wednesday-March30-2011

http://www.spiegel.de/international/crossing-the-20-percent-mark-green-energy-use-jumps-in-germany-a-783314.html

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2009/04/germany-the-worlds-first-major-renewable-energy-economy?cmpid=WNL-Wednesday-April8-2009

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2007/12/germany-to-require-renewables-for-new-homes-in-2009-50746