This information was originally part of a Midwest Energy News article by Dan Haugen on November 7, 2011. His reflection on the Institute on the Environment’s E3 (Energy, Economy and Environment) conference at the University of Minnesota follows.
This morning we heard from the German Embassy’s energy and environment counselor, Friedo Sielemann, who talked about how his country became one of the world’s clean-energy success stories.
Germany now generates more than 20 percent of its electricity from renewables. And it’s achieved that without disrupting its economy, Sieleman said.
“We often hear that if you do this or that for the environment, your economy will suffer,” Sieleman said. Germany, however, has grown its GDP even as energy use has decreased. “These three are not automatically connected.”
The goal isn’t to give “eternal support” for renewables, Sieleman said, but rather to help new technologies compete.
More than one-third of Germany’s renewable energy comes from wind. Hydropower accounts for about 20 percent, and solar is over 10 percent. The rest comes from biomass.
There’s nothing particularly unique about the amount of wind or sun in Germany, but it has one resource that isn’t so plentiful here in the United States: consensus.
Germany has broad support for its climate change and renewable policies — “as broad as it can be in a democracy,” Sieleman said. That consensus “helps enormously.”
