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Comment by myrmidon | Hacker News Reader

Germany is already way ahead of the US in switching away from fossil electricity (also ahead of China).

Sure, keeping the entire nuclear fleet from ~2000 would have maybe helped, but would have required very costly (economically and politically!) investments over the last few decades, and those basically went into renewables instead which turned out fine.

See: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/electricity-prod-source-s...

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I definitely wouldn't say that it turned out fine. The push against nuclear transcended into a larger push against electricity, making Germany a laggard in electrification. The car sector certainly isn't doing fine.

It's also funny how air conditioning powered by electricity is discouraged, while air conditioning in ICE cars or gas heating in buildings are at the very least tolerated. It's crazy if you think about it.

Is all of their energy consumption met by domestic production?

No, Germany imports massive amounts of fossil fuels. Renewables and electrification help reduce that. Electricity-wise Germany is a net exporter again

What is the cost balance from being that net exporter? Are they selling energy for more than they buy?

Its funny that the term "net exporter" is about the volume of energy, not the value of energy.

> What is the cost balance from being that net exporter? Are they selling energy for more than they buy?

Electricity production is a subset of energy production. A lot of factories use natural gas directly, they don't produce electricity first. ICE cars also use petrol directly, they don't first generate electricity.

That’s not how electricity works. The electrons don’t really care about borders, and neither do the suppliers and consumers.

Yes

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