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Renewable energy: Germany shows the way in new industrial revolution

Feldheim has zero unemployment ..

the technology already exists to allow people to be energy self-sufficient.

All eyes on German renewable energy efforts SF Gate, By MELISSA EDDY, Associated Press, December 29, 2011 “……Feldheim, a village of just 145 people, is already putting into practiceGermany’s vision of a future powered entirely by renewable energy……

In June, the nation passed the 20 percent mark for drawing electric power from a mix of wind, solar and other renewables. That compares with about 9 percent in the United States or Japan — both of which rely heavily on hydroelectric power, an energy source that has long
been used.

Expanding renewables depends on the right mix of resources, as well as government subsidies and investment incentive — and a willingness by taxpayers to shoulder their share of the burden. Germans currently pay a 3.5 euro cent per kilowatt-hour tax, roughly euro157 ($205) per year for a typical family of four, to support research and investment in and subsidize the production and consumption of energy from renewable sources.

That allows for homeowners who install solar panels on their rooftops, or communities like Feldheim that build their own biogas plants, to be paid above-market prices for selling back to the grid, to ensure that their investment at least breaks even……

Key to success of the transformation will be getting the nation’s powerful industries on board, to drive innovation in technology and create jobs. According to the Environment Ministry, overall investment in renewable energy production equipment more than doubled to euro29.4
billion ($38.44 billion) in 2011. Solid growth in the sector is projected through the next decade.

Some 370,000 people in Germany now have jobs in the renewable sector, more than double the number in 2004, a point used as proof that tax payers’ investment is paying off……
Feldheim has zero unemployment — despite its tiny size — compared with
roughly 30 percent in other villages in the economically depressed
state of Brandenburg, which views investments in renewables as a
ticket for a brighter future. Most residents work in the plant that
produces biogas — fuel made by the breakdown of organic material such
as plants or food waste — or maintain the wind and solar parks that
provide the village’s electricity.

“The energy revolution is already taking place right here,” says
Werner Frohwitter, spokesman for the Energiequelle company that helped
set up and run Feldheim’s energy concept.

But it’s not only in the country. Earlier this month in Berlin,
officials unveiled a prototype of a self-sustaining, energy-efficient
home, built from recycled materials and complete with electric
vehicles that can be charged in its garage.
The aim of the prototype home is to produce twice as much energy as is
used by a family of four — chosen from a willing pool of volunteers
who will be selected to live in the home for 15 months — through a
combination of solar photovoltaics and energy management technology,
in order to show the technology already exists to allow people to be
energy self-sufficient.

“We want to show people that already today it is possible to live
completely from renewable energy,” said German Transport Minister
Peter Ramsauer as the project, dubbed “Efficiency House Plus,” was
unveiled. The house is part of a wider euro1.2 million ($1.57 million)
project investing in energy-efficient buildings.

“The Efficiency House Plus will set standards that can be adopted by
the majority in the short term,” Ramsauer told The Associated Press.
“The basic principle is that the house produces more energy than
needed to live. The extra energy is then used to charge
electric-powered cars and bicycles or sold back to the public grid.”
Germany’s four leading car makers are also participating in the
project with BMW AG, Daimler AG, Volkswagen AG and Opel, which is part
of Buick’s parent company, General Motors Co., each making an E-car
for use by in the home.

Such strong cooperation between Germany’s industrial sector coupled
with a political landscape that emphasizes stability and a heightened
public ecological sensibility makes Germany fertile ground to lead the
way in the transformation from a post-carbon economy to one run on
renewable energy.

“Germany has the most robust industrial economy per capita. When you
talk about industrial revolution, that’s Germany. It’s German
technology, it’s German IT, it’s German commutation,” said Rifkin, who
outlines what he calls the “The Third Industrial Revolution,” in a
newly released book of the same title that explains how the economies
in the future could swap fossil fuels for renewable energies and still
maintain growth.

Robert Pottmann, an asset manager with Munich Re, one of the world’s
biggest reinsurers, says the company seeks to invest about euro2.5
billion ($3.27 billion) in the next few years in renewable energy
assets such as “wind farms, solar projects or maybe new electricity
grids.”

Alan Simpson, an independent energy and climate adviser from Britain
who visited Feldheim as part of a wider tour of Germany last month to
see what the renewable revolution looks like up close said it was
inspiring to view what is being accomplished on the ground.

“It’s great to think about Germany delivering on everything that we
are being told in Great Britain is impossible,” Simpson said.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/12/29/international/i005313S03.DTL&ao=2#ixzz1i3W2Gb1G

December 30, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Germany, renewable