Our gouvernment decided that Germany will become the first industrial nation that doesn't use energy from nuclear power plants (the first 8 power plants were shut down within days after the Fukushima incident happened) and conventional power plants any more and will instead get the whole energy needed from renewable energy sources.
It is a very ambitious goal, but I think it can be done in just a few years. But it won't if we waste electric energy the way we did before. So I decided to sell all my electrical devices and only keep the lights, the fridge and the washing machine. Everything else will be gone till the weekend.
I might log in from time to time again using the computer at work, but I won't be here any longer on a regular base. So farewell, it has been a great time and maybe we meet sometime in the future again...
[quote="eMTe"]I dont think trying to pass the screen in computer game once per 500 tries makes you a geek. Rather a dangerous psychopath.[/quote]
Wow! I wish I had that degree of willpower. I don't think I could pry myself away from the internet like that. I admire your commitment to energy conservation, Pater Alf.
All the best to you! I'm sure I speak for everyone here when I say you'll always be welcome any time you want to drop by.
[size=84]"A Canadian is someone who knows how to make love in a canoe."
Pierre Burton[/size]
Scythe wrote:I hear Germany has decided to go back to the Stone Age actually.
At least intellectually, because the fun part is that in the short- to long-term, closing down the nuclear plants means that Germany just needs to buy more energy (mostly coal-generated) from Mother Russia, as if those guys weren't energy-dependent on them already. The real kicker is that Russia is building more nuclear power to satisfy that demand.
I am actually laughing out so loud after reading this PA, that Anna came running from the other end of the apartment just to see what was happening. I simply love how Tormuse jumped in, right up to his neck.
Great aprils fools.
Currently testing Life version 2.9 (With added second child)
(Beta testing in progress)
Yeah, of course it was just a joke and I'm still here. I had a good laugh that there was at least one person who believed it (sorry Tormuse)...
About the energy debate: It is in fact true that Germany shut down eight old nuclear power plants. But we don't have to buy energy from Russia because of that. In fact we produced that much energy before (that was sold to other countries) that it doesn't matter. We even produced that much energy that some of the energy from renewable sources can't even get to the power nets because there was too much energy. Right now Germany gets about 15% of it's energy from renewable sources and around the same amount from nuclear power. Population never really liked the nuclear power and so in fact in some years the country wants to bcome independant of it. I'm pretty sure we can do it (as we have great engineers here that are world leading in the sector of renewable energy technology) and other countries will follow once it is proven that an industrial country can live without nuclear power.
But of course it was pure populism what our gouvernment did about two weeks ago. Just some months ago they told us the nuclear power plants are safe, rejected a law from the old gouvernment (which said to get out of the nuclear power till around 2030) and gave the power plants around 15 more years to run. Which brought lots of money to the big power companies and avoided the development of innovative new clear technologies. Most of the population didn't like that and now after Fukushima with two important elections ahead the gouvernment lost its nerves and tried to convince everybody that they never liked nuclear power as well and never did a strange deal with the atomic industry. Nice thing to see that the electors are no idiots, both elections got lost for the gouverning parties, no one believes them anymore and there even is the first green leader of a Federal German state now.
[quote="eMTe"]I dont think trying to pass the screen in computer game once per 500 tries makes you a geek. Rather a dangerous psychopath.[/quote]
Pater Alf wrote:About the energy debate: It is in fact true that Germany shut down eight old nuclear power plants. But we don't have to buy energy from Russia because of that. In fact we produced that much energy before (that was sold to other countries) that it doesn't matter. We even produced that much energy that some of the energy from renewable sources can't even get to the power nets because there was too much energy. Right now Germany gets about 15% of it's energy from renewable sources and around the same amount from nuclear power. Population never really liked the nuclear power and so in fact in some years the country wants to bcome independant of it. I'm pretty sure we can do it (as we have great engineers here that are world leading in the sector of renewable energy technology) and other countries will follow once it is proven that an industrial country can live without nuclear power.
And there lies the rub, the thing about solar and wind turbines is that their peak/through cycles make them unsuitable for base load energy generation. Nuclear and water dams are the few non-fossil fuel sources for reliable base load generation. The smart engineers really have to think about how to actually implement more renewable power in Germany so that the grid can handle it (Don't worry, though, smart grids are soon a reality). According to this article, if Germany plans to close all nuclear power, the only short-term solution is natural gas. The same goes for most of the rest of Europe.
Pater Alf wrote:About the energy debate: It is in fact true that Germany shut down eight old nuclear power plants. But we don't have to buy energy from Russia because of that. In fact we produced that much energy before (that was sold to other countries) that it doesn't matter. We even produced that much energy that some of the energy from renewable sources can't even get to the power nets because there was too much energy. Right now Germany gets about 15% of it's energy from renewable sources and around the same amount from nuclear power. Population never really liked the nuclear power and so in fact in some years the country wants to bcome independant of it. I'm pretty sure we can do it (as we have great engineers here that are world leading in the sector of renewable energy technology) and other countries will follow once it is proven that an industrial country can live without nuclear power.
And there lies the rub, the thing about solar and wind turbines is that their peak/through cycles make them unsuitable for base load energy generation. Nuclear and water dams are the few non-fossil fuel sources for reliable base load generation. The smart engineers really have to think about how to actually implement more renewable power in Germany so that the grid can handle it (Don't worry, though, smart grids are soon a reality). According to this article, if Germany plans to close all nuclear power, the only short-term solution is natural gas. The same goes for most of the rest of Europe.
I think the plans to use gas instead of nuclear power is just an idea by some people who don't have visions for the future (in the linked article it was the oppinion of a leading economist). I know that we can't shut down all nuclear power plants right now. If we do so we would really have to import energy or build new fossil power plants. There has to be done a lot of research in the segment of renewable sources, we need new grids and the possibility to storage power (e.g. pumped-storage power stations), so the base load won't be a problem. But I'm optimistic that it can be done (even if it might take 10 or 20 years) and I'm pretty sure that Germany will be the first big industrial country to do it. Might have to do with the fact that it seems to be one of the few industrial countries that always had a strong anti-nuclear movement (just google for things like "WAA Wackersdorf", "Brokdorf" or "Gorleben"). Not sure why it is like that, maybe after the war we never trusted our politicians and feared that they might tell us lies?
[quote="eMTe"]I dont think trying to pass the screen in computer game once per 500 tries makes you a geek. Rather a dangerous psychopath.[/quote]
Let us know how it turns out! Also, pics! 
LMAO! Yeah, you got me, Pater Alf! 
