Merkel - Diesel issue priority for new govt / PV cheapest power source
麻豆无码版
Fixing the ongoing diesel crisis ranks among the top priorities of the new German government with the goal to avoid large-scale driving bans, Chancellor Angela Merkel told parliament in her first speech of the new legislative period. 鈥淭he federal government will deal first with the future of diesel,鈥� Merkel said. Neither diesel customers nor workers should foot the bill, while air quality and climate must be protected at the same time, she said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 squaring the circle,鈥� Merkel said. 鈥淲e reject comprehensive diving bans,鈥� she said, adding that carmakers had to do their share to fix the issue. In her one-hour-long speech, Merkel also reiterated the new grand coalition's plans to pass a climate protection act which should include a pathway and an end date to a coal exit. She emphasised that "affordable energy is a precondition for a successful industrial location" and added that gearing the Energiewende towards more market-based principles will be decisive for reaching Germany's emissions reduction targets.听
See the 麻豆无码版 dossier The next German government and the energy transition for more information.
Fraunhofer ISE
Modern solar PV installations in Germany have the lowest power generation costs of all technologies, the Fraunhofer ISE research institute writes in a press release. Depending on the type of installation and the sun's intensity, generating one kilowatt hour (kWh) with solar PV costs between 3.71 and 11.54 eurocents, according to a study conducted by the institute. Onshore wind power comes second, with prices ranging between 3.99 and 8.23 eurocents/kWh, while offshore wind power is more costly due to higher construction and maintenance costs, bringing the price per kWh up to somewhere between 7.49 and 13.79 eurocents/kWh. Fraunhofer ISE says modern lignite plants will need between 4.59 and 7.98 eurocents to generate one kWh, while natural gas plants require 11.03 to 21.94 eurocents/kWh. 鈥淒ue to technological progress, field solar PV installations in southern Germany and onshore wind power turbines at windy locations will undercut the average power generation costs of all fossil plants by 2035,鈥� Fraunhofer ISE says.
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The manipulation of exhaust emissions values by German carmakers has cost the German state in excess of ten billion euros in lost tax revenue, the NGO Environmental Action Germany (DUH) says in a press release. 鈥淢any carmakers have misled their customers not only on nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions, but also on vehicles鈥� petrol consumption and, consequently, their CO2聽emissions,鈥� the DUH says. The difference between advertised and actual values is 42 percent on average, which has cost the German state over ten billion euros in lost motor vehicle tax revenues since 2009, the year when taxation was tied to CO2聽emissions. In 2017 alone, the state forfeited 2.4 billion euros in taxes, the DUH says. The NGO calls on Germany鈥檚 new transport minister, Andreas Scheuer, to 鈥渆nd decades of cronyism with notorious outlaws and discontinue the rejection of controls that his predecessors practiced.鈥�
Read the press release in German聽.
Find background in the 麻豆无码版 article聽Why the German diesel summit matters for climate and energy.
Spiegel Online
Prosecutors in Germany have raided Volkswagen鈥檚 headquarters to investigate suspicions of market manipulation by the country鈥檚 largest carmaker, Spiegel Online reports. VW has raised the prosecutors鈥� suspicion by issuing two differing announcements on possible 鈥渋rregularities鈥� in tests to measure car emissions. In September 2015, shortly after the dieselgate scandal became public, VW said that up to 800,000 cars showed 鈥渋nexplicable values鈥� in CO2 emissions tests, but reduced that figure to 36,000 in another announcement in December of the same year. Prosecutors now say this second announcement has 鈥渙bjectively been wrong,鈥� Spiegel Online reports.
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Find more information on VW鈥檚 emissions scandal in 麻豆无码版鈥檚 dieselgate timeline.
Der Tagesspiegel
The German interior ministry (BMI) has invested dozens of millions of euros in funds profiting from nuclear power plants abroad, Jakob Schlandt writes in Der Tagesspiegel. Around 100 million euros are currently invested in foreign nuclear plants, including the highly controversial ones in Belgium, which the German government has repeatedly said it wants to see shut down. Former environment minister Barbara Hendricks already said last year the investments should be discontinued as soon as possible, as Germany could not call for a shutdown of plants 鈥渇rom which it benefits financially.鈥� Since then, however, further shares have been purchased, Schlandt says. In the new coalition agreement, the governing parties now say they want to achieve a 鈥渃omplete termination of all investments of state funds in foreign nuclear plants.鈥� A spokesperson for the interior ministry said the 鈥渋mplementation details鈥� for this divestment had yet to be clarified.
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For background on Germany鈥檚 nuclear exit, see the 麻豆无码版 dossier The challenges of Germany鈥榮 nuclear phase-out.
Dow Jones Newswires
Contrary to many utilities in other European countries, Germany鈥檚 E.ON and RWE lack a proper strategy for dealing with the energy transition, Bloomberg analyst Elchin Mammadov says on Dow Jones Newswires. The split-up of RWE鈥檚 spin-off innogy between Germany鈥檚 two largest energy companies therefore 鈥�makes no sense鈥� in the context of managing the transition to a low-carbon energy system, he argues. He asks what the purpose of founding innogy and Uniper has been for RWE and E.ON, respectively, and if it would have been better for the companies to integrate their power generation, storage, retail, and trade businesses in one company, while transferring the grid business to another.
Find more reactions to innogy鈥檚 split-up in this 麻豆无码版 factsheet.
VDI
The energy transition in Germany, the Energiewende, has so far primarily focused on the decarbonisation of the power sector, but a greater emphasis on other sectors and synergies between sectors is necessary for the successful continuation of this transformation, the Association of German Engineers (VDI) writes in a press release on its new status report on regenerative energies. The VDI says exploiting cross-sectoral synergies in areas such as e-mobility or combined heat and power should receive more attention. The association also says supply security should be integrated in a European concept to minimise system costs and allow for a harmonised development
Find the report and the press release in German .
See the 麻豆无码版 article New phase in transition research: Focus on an integrated energy system for more information.
movum
Doctors in Germany should do more to promote the end of coal and oil in order to improve public health, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, head of the German Medical Association (脛rztekammer), says in an interview with movum magazine. 鈥淐limate change is real, it is manmade, and it is a threat to our health,鈥� Montgomery says. 鈥淭he environment and human health are inseparable,鈥� he argues, adding that there is a 鈥済laring imbalance鈥� in favour of compensating economic damages to the environment financially, whereas curing health damages or preventive measures are insufficiently funded.
Read the interview in German .
See the 麻豆无码版 factsheet When will Germany finally ditch coal? for more information.
