Solar Thermal Water Heating: Germany also leads Europe in total and annual installations of solar thermal collectors for water heating. Interest in solar water heating was boosted by the increase of the subsidy, effective February 1, 2003. 2003 sales totaled about 600 million euros. In 2004, 740,000 more square meters were added, about 80% of them for domestic water heating and 20% for space heating.
To keep this sector expanding and encourage applications on apartment buildings, the government is developing a Renewable Heating Act. Whereas the EEG raised money for PV by spreading the costs proportionately over all utility districts, the Renewable Heating Act would raise money with a country-wide tax on oil and gas used in the heating sector, using this revenue to provide an incentive payment per kilowatt-hour of heat generated by solar thermal systems.
Long-Term Commitment Drives Results
At least seven factors were vital to the rapid rise of Germany's renewable energy industries:
Enlightened politicians, in particular the alliance of the Social Democrat Party and the Green Party, and the leadership of Parliamentarian Hermann Scheer. Federal government leadership, through the adoption, in 2002, of a national strategy for sustainable development, and through the government's consistent, long-range support for energy-efficiency and renewables. Involved citizens who, mostly working through cooperatives, own 90% of the wind turbines, as well as most PV systems.
Scientific analysis used as the basis for developing government policy. The German parliament formed the Enquete Commission in February 2000 "to furnish scientific evidence to be used as a basis for the German Bundestag's future decision-making in the field of energy policy." In its 2002 report to the parliament, the commission concluded, "It is possible to cover the total energy demand [for Germany] by means of solar/ renewable sources." Subsequent German policy is governed by this premise.
The government's energy-efficiency policies: On April 1, 1999, the federal government implemented the first step in "environmental tax reform," by which it increased the taxes on oil, gas and electricity. Further increases occurred each year through 2003. The estimate is that these taxes, which have yielded tens of billions of euros, produced 100,000 new jobs in new energy-efficiency related industries, while contributing to Germany's commitment to reducing greenhouse gases.
The government's ethical commitment to the future and the world. Germany has demonstrated this commitment by agreeing to raise its goal for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the Kyoto Accord's requirement of 21% by 2008-2012 to 25% by 2005, and by adopting the Enquete Commission's conclusion that the global energy supply system must be designed in such a way that they will no longer generate any highly radioactive waste in the future."
The government's long-term commitment. The German government has established firm goals for renewable energy growth and carbon dioxide abatement for 2010 and 2020. The policy horizon extends to 2030, when nuclear power is to have been fully phased out, and then to 2050, when a dominant share of Germany's energy will be produced renewably. Germany's goals extend sufficiently long to assure its renewable energy transition.
To realize a goal of 45% penetration of renewable energy by 2050, energy productivity must also improve by a significant factor, so that total energy use in 2050 will need to be about 37% less than it is today.
Ten Years On, New Jobs, Revenues
By the end of 2003, Germany had an estimated 45,400 permanent jobs resulting from the wind industry alone, a figure expected to increase to 103,000 jobs by 2010. About one new job is created in the German wind industry for every 300 kW capacity installed, for a technology that contributes 6.2% of the nation's demand for electricity. In contrast, the German nuclear industry, which supplies about 30% of the nation's electricity, employs 38,000 people. The German wind industry therefore produces 10 times as many jobs per unit of installed capacity, and more than 20 times the jobs in terms of delivered electricity. About 35,000 people are employed in the solar industries. Total solar sales grew by 60% in 2004, to more than 2 billion euros (US$2.6 billion).
Starting from almost no renewable energy applications, Germany has moved to the forefront of global renewable energy in just 10 years. Governments need no longer doubt if it is possible. Other governments would do well to follow suit, by recasting their national energy policies to capitalize on nature's renewable bounty.
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Donald Aitken has been on the board of the German-based International Solar Energy Society for eight years. Contact him: donaldaitken@earthlink.net
www.donaldaitkenassociates.com
FROM Solar Today, a SustainableBusiness.com Content Partner
