Germany Struggles With Renewable Energy

NPR - Germans largely refuse to buy E10 ethanol gas blend

NPR ran a story on today's Morning Edition about Germany's troubles integrating renewable energy into their society. The car crazy country has experimented with a 10 percent ethanol blend (E10) in thier gasoline comparable to America's mix. But according to NPR, "[T]here are two problems: German car lovers are refusing to buy it and environmentalists say it's no greener than regular gas." Basically, Germans are afraid that the ethanol mix will hurt their engines.

On the power grid, Germany is moving backward on renewable energy over nuclear concerns. "In the wake of Japan's nuclear crisis, more and more Germans have joined the long-active chorus of citizens calling for the country to phase out its nuclear power plants by at least 2021. So with more Germans saying no thanks both to nuclear power and biofuels, carbon dioxide emissions are likely to increase in Europe's largest economy before they decrease. In fact, German companies are now building several new coal-fired power plants to help meet energy demand."

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Posted by Nick Stone on 9:00 AM. Filed under energy, ethanol, NPR, World . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0