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Energiewende
The () is the ongoing energy transition by Germany. The new system intends to rely heavily on renewable energy (particularly wind, photovoltaics, and hydroelectricity), energy efficiency, and energy demand management. Legislative support for the ''Energiewende'' was passed in late 2010 and included greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions of 80–95% by 2050 (relative to 1990) and a renewable energy target of 60% by 2050. Germany had made progress on its GHG emissions reduction target before the introduction of the program, achieving a 27% decrease between 1990 and 2014. The country would need to maintain an average GHG emissions abatement rate of 3.5% per year to reach its ''Energiewende'' goal, equal to the maximum historical value. Germany's energy mix has a high intensity due a significant coal and fossil gas usage. Germany phased out nuclear power in 2023 as part of the ''Energiewende'', and plans to retire existing coal power plants possibly by 2030, and latest by 2038. By 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Efficient Energy Use
Efficient energy use, or energy efficiency, is the process of reducing the amount of energy required to provide products and services. There are many technologies and methods available that are more energy efficient than conventional systems. For example, building insulation, insulating a building allows it to use less heating and cooling energy while still maintaining a Thermal comfort, comfortable temperature. Another method made by Lev Levich is to remove energy subsidies that promote high energy consumption and inefficient energy use. Improved energy efficiency in Green building, buildings, industrial processes and Energy efficiency in transport, transportation could reduce the world's energy needs in 2050 by one third. There are two main motivations to improve energy efficiency. Firstly, one motivation is to achieve Operating cost, cost savings during the operation of the appliance or process. However, installing an energy-efficient technology comes with an upfront cost, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Energy Transition
An energy transition (or energy system transformation) is a major structural change to energy supply and consumption in an energy system. Currently, a transition to sustainable energy is underway to limit climate change. Most of the sustainable energy is renewable energy. Therefore, another term for ''energy transition'' is renewable energy transition. The current transition aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from energy quickly and sustainably, mostly by phasing-down fossil fuels and changing as many processes as possible to operate on low carbon electricity. A previous energy transition perhaps took place during the Industrial Revolution from 1760 onwards, from wood and other biomass to coal, followed by oil and later natural gas. Over three-quarters of the world's energy needs are met by burning fossil fuels, but this usage emits greenhouse gases. Energy production and consumption are responsible for most human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. To meet the goals of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nuclear Power Phase-out
A nuclear power phase-out is the discontinuation of usage of nuclear power for energy production. Often initiated because of Politics of nuclear power, concerns about nuclear power, phase-outs usually include shutting down nuclear power plants and looking towards fossil fuels and renewable energy. Three nuclear accidents have influenced the discontinuation of nuclear power: the 1979 Three Mile Island accident, Three Mile Island partial nuclear meltdown in the United States, the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the USSR (now Ukraine), and the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan. , only three countries have permanently closed all of their formerly functioning nuclear plants: Italy by 1990, Germany by 2023 and Taiwan by 2025. Lithuania and Kazakhstan have shut down their only nuclear plants, but plan to build new ones to replace them, while Armenia shut down its only nuclear plant but subsequently restarted it. Austria never used its first nuclear plant that was completely built. Cu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vattenfall
Vattenfall is a Swedish multinational corporation, multinational electrical power industry, power company owned by the List of government enterprises of Sweden, Swedish state. Beyond Sweden, the company generates power in Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. The company's name is Swedish for "waterfall", and is an abbreviation of its original name, Royal Waterfall Board (''Kungliga Vattenfallsstyrelsen''). History Vattenfall (then called ''Kungliga Vattenfallsstyrelsen'' or Royal Waterfall Board) was founded in 1909 as a state-owned enterprise in Sweden. From its founding until the mid-1970s, Vattenfall's business was largely restricted to Sweden, with a focus on hydroelectric power generation. Only in 1974 did the company begin to build nuclear reactors in Sweden (the Ringhals Nuclear Power Plant, Ringhals 1 and 2 reactors), eventually owning seven of Sweden's 12 reactors. In 1992, Vattenfall was reformed as the Aktiebolag, joint-stock company Vat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bundesrechnungshof
The Bundesrechnungshof (Federal Court of Audit) is the supreme federal authority for audit matters in the Federal Republic of Germany. There are equivalent bodies at state level. The status of the Bundesrechnungshof, its members and its essential functions are guaranteed by the German ConstitutionArt. 114 GG, and regulated by other legislation (i.e. Bundesrechnungshof Act, Federal Budget Code). It is an independent judicial body, with around 600 employees. Its current President is Kay Scheller. The institution is a supreme federal authority only as far as it administers internal tasks such as personnel affairs, management of buildings or clearance of travel expenses and the like. Processing its core duties - auditing, reporting and counseling as external financial controllers - it is not part of the executive branch of Germany, but is positioned beyond the three classical constitutional powers. The Bundesrechnungshof is not subordinated to the federal government. Even the leg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Storms Of My Grandchildren
''Storms of My Grandchildren: The Truth About the Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to Save Humanity'' is climate scientist James Hansen's first book, published by Bloomsbury Press in 2009. The book is about threats to people and habitability for life on earth from global warming. Themes In the book, Hansen describes how the burning of fossil fuels is changing our climate and argues that this is putting Earth into imminent peril. He suggests that millions of species, and humanity itself, are threatened. The title of the book, ''Storms of My Grandchildren'', refers to the ferocious and stormy weather events that will occur in the next generation if fossil fuel use continues in the way it has. In Hansen's evaluation, the response of politicians to this crisis has mainly been "greenwashing", where their proposals sound good but amount to little. Hansen says that we immediately need to cut back atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions such that atmospheric concentrations are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Hansen
James Edward Hansen (born March 29, 1941) is an American climatologist. He is an adjunct professor directing the Program on Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions of the The Earth Institute, Earth Institute at Columbia University. He is best known for his research in climatology, his 1988 Congressional testimony on climate change that helped raise broad awareness of global warming, and his advocacy of action to avoid dangerous climate change. In recent years, he has become a climate Activism, activist to Mitigation of global warming, mitigate the effects of global warming, on a few occasions leading to his arrest. Hansen also proposed an alternative approach of global warming, where the 0.7°C global mean temperature increase of the last 100 years can essentially be explained by the effect of Greenhouse gas, greenhouse gases other than carbon dioxide (such as methane). Early life and education Hansen was born in Denison, Iowa, Denison, Iowa, to James Ivan Hansen and Gladys Ra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Energy Transition Scenario In Germany
Energy () is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat and light. Energy is a conserved quantity—the law of conservation of energy states that energy can be converted in form, but not created or destroyed. The unit of measurement for energy in the International System of Units (SI) is the joule (J). Forms of energy include the kinetic energy of a moving object, the potential energy stored by an object (for instance due to its position in a field), the elastic energy stored in a solid object, chemical energy associated with chemical reactions, the radiant energy carried by electromagnetic radiation, the internal energy contained within a thermodynamic system, and rest energy associated with an object's rest mass. These are not mutually exclusive. All living organisms constantly take in and release energy. The Earth's climate and ecosystems processes are driven primaril ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Öko-Institut
The Öko-Institut (Institute for Applied Ecology) (sometimes spelled Oeko-Institut) is a non-profit, private-sector environmental research institute with its head office in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu .... It emerged from the anti-nuclear movement in 1977 and as of November 2024 has around 210 employees at its sites in Freiburg, Darmstadt and Berlin. The institute is organized as an association and pursues the goals of promoting environmental protection and sustainable development, which is to be achieved, among other things, through scientific research, consulting and educating the public. The supporting association has about 2,000 members, including nearly 20 municipalities. It finances its work primarily through third-party fun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sigmar Gabriel
Sigmar Hartmut Gabriel (born 12 September 1959) is a German politician who was the Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2017 to 2018 and the vice-chancellor of Germany from 2013 to 2018. He was Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 2009 to 2017, which made him the party's longest-serving leader since Willy Brandt. He was the Federal Minister of the Environment from 2005 to 2009 and the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy from 2013 to 2017. From 1999 to 2003 Gabriel was Minister-President of Lower Saxony. He represented Salzgitter – Wolfenbüttel in the Bundestag. Gabriel is a member of the Seeheimer Kreis, an official internal grouping of the party with liberal economic positions. Early life and education Gabriel was born in Goslar, West Germany, son of Walter Gabriel (1921–2012), a municipal civil servant, and Antonie Gabriel (1922–2014), a nurse. Gabriel's parents divorced in 1962, and for the next six years he lived with his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Federal Ministry For Economic Affairs And Climate Action
The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (, ; abbreviated BMWE, formerly BMWi) is a Cabinet of Germany, cabinet-level ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany. It was previously known as the "Ministry of Economy". It was recreated in 2005 as "Ministry of Economics and Technology" after it had previously been merged with other ministries to form the Federal Ministry for Economics and Labour between 2002 and 2005. The ministry is advised by the Council of Advisors on Digital Economy. History The historical predecessor of the current Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action was the ''Reichswirtschaftsamt'' (Reich Economic Office), founded in 1917. In 1919, this became the ''Reichswirtschaftsministerium'' (Reich Ministry of Economy), which existed until 1945. In postwar occupied Germany, its functions were exercised by the Administrative Office of Economy () between 1946 and 1949. After the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Federal Mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster
The Fukushima nuclear accident was a major nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan, which began on 11 March 2011. The cause of the accident was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which resulted in electrical grid failure and damaged nearly all of the power plant's Emergency power system, backup energy sources. The subsequent inability to sufficiently cool reactors after shutdown compromised Primary containment, containment and resulted in the release of radioactive contamination, radioactive contaminants into the surrounding environment. The accident was rated seven (the maximum severity) on the International Nuclear Event Scale by Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, following a report by the JNES (Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization). It is regarded as the worst nuclear incident since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, which was also rated a seven on the International Nuclear Event Scale. According to the United Nati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
