Planned to just check things quickly and get back to James Lee Burke's Last Car to Elysian Fields, but couldn't resist a quick post on a new article at Grist detailing Germany's abandonment of nuclear power in favor of renewables like wind and solar power. While the country is in the midst of relative economic and political turmoil, Germans are united behind a fifteen-year plan to end the use of nuclear power in the country, and replace it with a combination of clean coal, natural gas, renewables and energy efficiency. Michael Levitan's article demonstrates that Germany, despite its current problems, seem wholly committed to revolutioning its power production. While there are definite downsides to the plan -- one has to wonder how much more CO2 will be produced by using coal and gas as "bridge fuels" -- the ability to rally a nation around long-term change like this is particularly impressive.
Technorati tags: nuclear power, wind power, solar power, renewable energy, politics, Germany
