I am German btw.

1- clearly, Energiewende is an important part of an eventual goal of clean power + electric vehicles, (which addresses the oil issue and would explain why they bring it up).

2- the German people obviously have a choice to keep nuclear waste as far away from them as possible. many of them have lived through a nuclear disaster in their backyard, and certainly through the most recent (& ongoing) disaster in Japan. while i’d prefer they phase out coal before nuclear, they are doing more to cut emissions than the large majority of countries and have a right to phase out nuclear. again, i don’t know how this relates to the film, but it’s very clear the German people would like to phase out nuclear.

3- i haven’t seen the film, so don’t really know the specifics you have issues with here. if the film becomes available in English, i’ll be sure to watch it.

Distorted facts are numerous. For instance, the film frequently refers to the high costs of German energy imports, particularly oil. While this is not wrong, it is misleading as Energiewende related energy policies do not change this. Oil is almost exclusively used for transport, chemical products, and (to a lesser extent) heating in Germany but the Energiewende is focused on the power sector, where oil is not a significant source.

The nuclear phase out lead to a surge in the use of lignite (and more CO2 emissions), which is almost entirely from domestic production. And without an effective carbon price in place, power production from lignite is by far cheaper than renewable sources, most certainly cheaper than solar.

The discussion of the effect of renewables on EEX spot prices is superficial at best, as it does not factor in the marginal costs when the sun doesn’t shine in Germany.

I could go on, if you like. Let me know.

BTW: I am a big fan of renewables but think the specific German policies lead to many issues that need to be discussed to create more sustainable policies and incentive structures.

While I think US energy policy could profit enormously from studying the Energiewende this film is not helpful in that respect. (To be fair, it seems to be geared towards a domestic German audience.) In any case, a discussion of the up- and downsides of the German policy would be very interesting. This contribution, however, seems to be a propaganda piece and not a serious discussion of the matter.