Coal Rising Again in Germany
Coal Rising Again in Germany “Merkel’s Green Shift Forces Germany to Burn More Coal.” That was the Blomberg headline at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-19/merkel-s-green-shift-forces-germany-to-burn-more-coal-energy.html on August 20, 2012. Prime Minister Angela Merkel shied away from nuclear fission after the earthquake-driven fission-reactor disaster in Japan. However, Germany needed power from somewhere, so coal it is. Part of the rush to coal apparently came from the collapse of the carbon trading market for various reasons. However, another issue was that coal power plants have become more efficient. The article keyed on 2,200-megawatt station near Cologne that is 43% efficient. Also, it can vary its electricity out put by 500 megawatts within a quarter hour. That is important because the coal plant is backing up notoriously undependable wind generation facilities. Bottom line: coal burned “last year” (presumably that means 2011) rose 5.4 percent. Corall...