Comment by jonp888 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by jonp888 | Hacker News Reader

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Why is Hacker News OBSESSED with Germany no longer getting 13% of it's power from nuclear?

Of course you can disagree with it, but the way people frame it as as some sort of doomsday decision is just utterly, totally, ludicrous.

If this were a regular german language news site this would not be the top comment, nor would there would be a discussion about nuclear power in literally any post about Germany.

I'm quite sure I could make a post about some German film director and someone would claim his films would have been better if only it wasn't for the cataclysmic decision to not have 13% nuclear power.

I mean seriously, WTF? You think all the problems of the economy(global demand trends, phase out of ICE cars, red tape, lack of skilled staff), and all the problems of politics(immigration, healthcare, social cohesion, taxation, budget balancing, social system) could be solved by having a different type of power station?

Posts like this are what is utter madness.

1. Germany got over 30% of its power from reliable, CO₂-free and cheap nuclear, not 13%

2. It has now spent €400-600 billion to replace that reliable, CO₂-free, cheap energy with unreliable expensive CO₂-free energy. That's a lot of cash for getting a worse product.

3. That first part was the easy part, because up to now Germany has retained base-load capacity, in the form of coal power stations. There is no precedent for an industrial country powered by 100% intermittent renewables, and the models are clear that there is a good reason for this: "...which challenges the economic sanity of 100% intermittent renewable targets."

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S03605...

So from here on it will get worse. Much worse.

4. Electricity prices in Germany have soared since 2002 (the year the Atomausstieg was enacted). Heavy industry is leaving the country. They say energy prices are to blame. Not wholly to blame, but to blame.

5. Inflation in Germany is high, largely due to energy prices. Now this is difficult to disentangle from the global energy crisis, but it is pretty clear that Germany was hit worse by this than other countries.

6. "You think all the problems of the economy...". Nobody made the claim that it was "all" the problems, except you. So calm down.

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