20% of Germany Electricity from Renewable Energy in 2011 (& 4.8% Drop in Energy Consumption)

December 22nd, 2011 by Zachary Shahan

German energy consumption (click to enlarge).

I wrote just the other day about 2 natural gas plants totaling 1 gigawatt in capacity that are likely to soon be shut down because of the tremendous amount of wind energy on the grid in northern Germany, where they’re located. More news out of renewable energy leader Germany is that the country got 20% of its electricity from renewable energy sources in 2011, and that it’s energy consumption dropped 4.8%.

“German consumption of oil fell 3%, gas by 10.2%, lignite coal by 0.7% (although hard coal rose 3.7%), and nuclear by 22.9%. At the same time, use of renewable energy climbed by 4.1% and represented about 20% of the country’s electricity and 10.8% of total energy in 2011,” Stephen Lacey reports over on Climate Progress.

“An increase in residential and industrial efficiency combined with milder temperatures in 2011 provided the conditions for the decrease in consumption.”

But aside from these numbers, there’s still the big (false) threat that certain energy players and politicians try to push — the (false) idea that switching to renewable energy and increasing energy conservation will harm the economy. Here’s Stephen’s statement on that:

“Analysts expect German GDP growth to be around 3% in 2011, about the same projected for the U.S.”

Poor Germany — clean air, clean water, a clean conscience, and no price to pay for it.

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About the Author

Zachary Shahan spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as the director/chief editor. Otherwise, he's probably enthusiastically fulfilling his duties as the director/editor of Solar Love, EV Obsession, Planetsave, or Bikocity. Zach is recognized globally as a solar energy, electric car, and wind energy expert. If you would like him to speak at a related conference or event, connect with him via social media. You can connect with Zach on any popular social networking site you like. Links to all of his main social media profiles are on ZacharyShahan.com.

http://www.facebook.com/morton2 Cal Morton

Really appreciate all the time you put in Zach, it certainly makes my job of spreading the gospel a lot easier.
Cheers
- http://cleantechnica.com/ Zachary Shahan
  
  Thanks. I appreciate your comment more than you probably realize.
  
  Often, when covering this issue, it feels like you’re in a battle of sorts — so refreshing and helpful to get such comments.
  
  Big help in keeping me going some days, but really, cleantech is a fun field to be covering