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Renewables and Clean Energy Sources  Serious Incentives
Germany aims to double the portion of electricity generated by renewable energies from 5 percent to 10 percent by 2010. A further goal is to increase that share to fully 50% by the year 2050. One serious incentive to this goal is the phasing out of nuclear power in Germany. The federal government last year adopted the law phasing out nuclear power within three decades. That will eliminate an energy source that currently provides about one third of the electricity in Germany. Promoting renewables is just one part of a multi-faceted plan to bring climate and environmental protection requirements and the needs of a competitive power industry in line with one another. The approach also includes ecological tax reform, promotion of combined heat and electricity systems and a broad set of measures to promote energy conservation technologies. Not only will a new energy mix be developed, but the demand for energy will be reduced. Among the programs to promote renewables and clean energy:
Conservation + Renewables = Return on Investment One innovative program lets private citizens share in the profit from energy generation from renewable sources. In a pilot project in Engelskirchen near Cologne, money to construct a solar power plant at a local school and to modernize the school's electrical and water systems has been raised from private investors. The investors will receive a return over 20 years from the revenues of the power plant, the largest solar plant in the region, and from the energy savings at the school. The Solar&Spar Contract GmbH & Co. was created especially for the project, a joint venture between the state of North Rhine - Westphalia, which took on about one fourth of the construction costs, and the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy. The solar power plant went into operation in January 2002 and, along with the modernization of the school's systems, is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by about 200 tons a year. Innovations •Natural Gas Powered Cars - More than an idea for automakers and drivers. •Wind Energy - The capacity of wind energy facilities in Germany grew more than five fold between 1995 and 2000. In 2000, there were approximately 10,000 such facilities in Germany accounting for nearly 3 % of the country's energy supply and for more than 25,000 jobs. •Grass Power Plant - The world's first grass power plant has begun production in Schaffhausen on the Rhine River. With farmers supplying grass, the plant expects to produce at least enough electricity per year to power 1,000 households. The facility, built by the Swiss firm 2B Biorefineries, transforms methane from fermented grass into electricity and heat. •Wood Energy - New technology and federal subsidies have made a public works project in Schwäbisch Hall possible. The plant extracts energy from wood more efficiently than by burning, transforming 38 % of the wood's energy into electricity and 48 % into heat.
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