Energy Policy In Germany Research Articles

Exploring the Impact of the War between Russia and Ukraine on Germany's Energy Policy

The Russo-Ukrainian War brought dramatic changes to the Current international system. The biggest challenge to Europe is the Energy Crisis because of the sanctions on Russian energy. These years many scholars have criticized neoliberalism and interdependence in government policy, and the war again accelerates that. This article is researching the impact of the energy crisis during the war in Germany. This research is helpful in understanding that the government needs to rethink neoliberalism as a guiding methodology and ideology. Based on the method of case study, this research found that it was necessary to develop realism’s interdependence in this scenario. 1) The only Channel during tensions is the role of the central government. 2) The Invisible Hierarchy lies in a nation’s policy decision. 3) Military forces are a vital part of world politics indirectly. As an extension of current realist theory, economic interdependence should be considered as a part of broader national security interests. Thus, Germany should reconsider its energy policy.

Insights into a black box! Comparison of organizational modes and their monetary implications for the producers of short rotation coppice (SRC) in Brandenburg/Germany

A substantial change in energy policy in Germany towards the substitution of fossil, nonrenewable energy resources is part of a current political and social process. This change has been accelerated by the government’s decision in summer 2011 to phase out nuclear energy, a direct result of the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan. As part of this development, new business activities and modes of organization for the provisioning of energy from alternative sources have emerged; one such activity is short rotation coppice (SRC) cultivation on agricultural land. In this paper, we compare the two prevailing organizational modes for SRC: independent production and contract farming. We use a mixed-methods approach to examine these modes from the producers’ point of view in Brandenburg/Germany. First, we give reasons for the producer’s choice between these two modes of organization based on the interviewee’s qualitative assessment of how these modes cope with perceived SRC-related challenges e.g. uncertainties. As economic uncertainty plays a major role in both refusal to adopt SRC and the choice of the mode of organization for SRC production, we secondly model the unknown economic outcome of the independent mode. We thereby give insights into the “black box”. This consists on the one hand of lacking economic figures for an economic comparison of both modes, and on the other hand of the producer’s decision-making process between both modes. For the latter, we use the theoretical approach of transaction costs to display ostensible non-monetary decision factors. Using a known monetary reference for the contract farming mode, we are able firstly to support a comparison of economic factors and secondly to identify and interpret the critical variables whose manifestations and/or changes are decisive for the economic outcome. The modelling results show that neither of the two modes performs better per se. This finding suggests that the weight ascribed to the transaction costs of SRC in each individual producer’s decision-making process is decisive for the producer’s choice of mode.

Of Uranium and Carbon: Divergence of Energy Policy in Germany and France

After the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident, Chancellor Merkel of Germany announced a complete nuclear phase-out in Germany by 2022, while President Hollande of France assured the French government of his commitment to nuclear energy. Fossil fuels, notably lignite and coal, dominated the German energy sector with 47.9% market share of total energy production in Germany; nuclear energy is the leading energy source in France with a market share of 80.9% in 2013. The difference between natural resources’ abundance in Germany and France shaped the development of energy policy in both countries. Huge lignite and coal reserves in Germany continued to sustain Germany’s growing economy, while France, lacking fossil fuel deposits, pursued nuclear energy to gain economic and energy independence after the 1973 oil crisis. Anti-nuclear movement in Germany succeeded in mass mobilization and gained major political representation in both federal and state governments through the Green Party and Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). The French anti-nuclear movement faced a strong centralized French government and failed to gain public support, and political isolation prevented any influence on French energy policy.

Effectiveness of Planning Instruments for Minimizing Spatial Conflicts of Biogas Production

The energy policy in Germany encourages an ever-greater utilization of biomass to produce biogas. But this utilization interferes on the natural resources and affects new conflicts regarding other forms of land use particularly flood prevention measures, drinking water supply and recreation. A forward-looking planning is needed to minimize these conflicts. Hence, this paper aims to derive quality and protection standards, summarized in checklists, assessing the effectiveness of different planning instruments with respect to the impact of biogas production in practice. These checklists were used in four model districts in Lower Saxony to evaluate the effectiveness of planning instruments on the regional level. The results show that the investigated Regional Planning Programmes do not contain any explicit planning statements as to the production of biomass or biogas. Specific regulations regarding potential conflict situations are mainly to be found in the respective Protected Area Regulations. However, generally the German spatial planning and sectoral planning provide options to control the production of biogas in a way that it is compatible with the majority of competing land uses.

From hero to zero: Evidence of performance reversal and speculative bubbles in German renewable energy stocks

Stocks of German renewable energy companies have commonly been regarded as lucrative investment opportunities. Their innovative line of business initially seemed to promise considerable future earnings. As shown by two powerful bubble tests, the positive sentiment for renewable energy stocks even led to explosive price behavior in the mid-2000s. However, intense sector competition and the economic downturn following the global financial crisis erased profit margins to a large extent. As a result, the former fad stocks have recently turned into losers, loading negatively on price momentum and delivering significantly negative Carhart four-factor alphas. The radical shift in Germany's energy policy following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan could thus only temporarily halt the continuing decline in alternative energy stock prices.

Renewable energy policy in Germany: pioneering and exemplary regulations

The development of renewable energy in Germany has been a great success: 9 % share of green electricity in 2002, world leader in terms of installed wind capacity amounting to 13,512 MW in October 2003 (nearly 40 % of the global capacity), second largest installed photovoltaic capacity in the world (nearly 350 MW at the end of September 2003), European leader in the sale of biodiesel (550,000 tonnes per year at the end of 2002) and in solar heating systems, with 4.75 million m 2 of installed systems at the end of 2002. To understand the success it is necessary to know that it results from – besides suitable background conditions – a comprehensive promotion approach which was launched at the beginning of the 1990s and has been given a further boost, since the coming into office of the Social Democratic-Green government in autumn 1998, through a series of promotion measures. Since 1991, with the coming into force of the first German feed-in law, the Act on Supplying Electricity from Renewables (Stromeinspeisegesetz, StrEG), fixed remuneration has been paid to electricity based on renewable energy sources (RES), leading to the market breakthrough in wind energy. Its successor, the Renewable Energy Sources Act (Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz, EEG) in April 2000, improved the regulations of the StrEG in many respects and made market entry possible for other renewables such as solar photovoltaics and biomass energy. The positive RES development in Germany can be explained by, besides this key promotion measure which served as a subsidy for the operational costs, several promotion programmes, which supported RES through investment subsidies (in the form of grants or soft loans), tax exemptions (within the scope of the Environmental Tax Reform) or in a more indirect way, through the decision to phase out nuclear energy, by means of information dissemination (i.e., the RES export initiative of the federal government) and corporate financing schemes in the case of wind energy.

Facing the greenhouse effect: Communication about energy in Germany

Energy policy in Germany has been characterized by an irreconcilable debate about nuclear power and the potentials of renewable energy sources and energy-saving activities for more than 15 years. The question is whether the emerging greenhouse effect has changed or at least influenced this conflict. In our study we screened the publications of various stakeholders in the energy debate and investigated their standpoints, values, and attitudes towards energy policy after the emergence of the greenhouse effect. Our study reveals that the focus of the communication is no longer nuclear power. Moreover, communication with the public tries to hide the still virulent conflict among the agents. Every agent argues for the protection of the global climate and environment. But despite this superficial consensus and the “green” arguments, the various agents draw different conclusions. Thus communication not only minimizes clarity, but also fails to produce any consensus on how to realize the ambitious goals of global environmental protection.

Applied general equilibrium modeling for long-term energy policy in Germany

The energy model is based on an extension of applied general equilibrium models of the Leontief input-output type, first implemented by Hudson and Jorgenson (1974). One objective of our project is to choose specifications of sectoral production and cost functions that permit us to estimate the unknown parameters of the price functions and input demand functions from a single input-output table in ten energy and 35 non-energy industries. Our second objective is to determine the price for capital and labor as well as the components of final demand endogenously instead of using a separate growth model as an engine for the economic development. Our third objective is to combine the concept of price-dependent substitution within the input structure with the concept of vintage coefficients for the latest plants. By this we incorporate into the input-output analysis the effect on growth as a result of investment, the effect on capacity as a result of new plants, and the effect on prices as a result of new technologies. An application of the model shows the long-term impact on growth and prices under alternative technologies in the electricity industry (nuclear or coal-fired power plants).

The International Implications of West Germany's Energy Policy

The International Implications of West Germany's Energy Policy