Germany does while we sit and watch. It’s been the Australian way. Oh yes, we invented the collapsable cheap wine cask and the system that allows the media to invest in gambling and advertise it simultaneously without having to declare our interest..
“Our goal is clear: Deutsche Bahn will be climate-neutral by 2040. We are also helped by creative solutions such as the overhead contact line island for battery-powered trains.”
Some 66 percent of German households are in favour of raising the top tax rate to finance climate action, according to a survey conducted by the ifo Institute in cooperation with the forsa opinion research institute. Researchers asked households about their preferences with regard to financing climate change policies.
Source: Majority of Germans favor higher top Tax Rate to finance Climate Protection – Poll
Less than a final solution given the Saudi- Qattar conflict. The final solution for Independence must be renewable energy and Germany is a tech leader.
Germany is making considerable progress in weaning itself off fossil fuel imports from Russia and could become virtually independent of the country’s coal and oil by the end of this year, said economy and climate minister Robert Habeck in Berlin. Natural gas supply poses the biggest challenge and it will likely take until mid-2024 for Germany to be able to forgo deliveries from Russia, said the minister. Significant expansion of renewables, reduction of consumption in all sectors, diversification and the ramp-up of hydrogen are needed for this.
Austria has already “locked down” 2M unvaccinated
In Germany citizens would be required to provide proof of vaccination, a certificate of recovery, or a negative test to ride public transport on top of the existing rules around entering some venues and settings. The head of Germany’s disease control body, The Robert Koch Institute (RKI), warned the country faced a “serious emergency”. “We are heading into a serious emergency. We will have an extremely unpleasant Christmas if we do not act to stop this,” RKI president Lothar Wieler said. The resurgence of the virus has been blamed on the low vaccination rate, as well as waning immunity over time, which has prompted an urgent drive to boost jab levels.
Source: Fourth wave hits Germany ‘with full force’ as infections rise to all-time high
Germany is taking another step towards achieving a fully renewable power system by completing the first electric cable connection with Norway, heads of government and ministers from both states have said at the official launch event of NordLink. The green transformation cannot be achieved by countries on their own, chancellor Angela Merkel said. Integrating different energy sources in different countries, e.g. wind power in northern Germany with hydropower in Norway, is helping to ensure a secure power supply and stabilise energy prices, Merkel said. Energy minister Peter Altmaier said that the result is a win-win situation for both countries and consumers, as the energy transition would get cheaper the better European countries are interconnected.
Dr Fitschen said Germany would diversify its political and economic relations in Asia so that it did not fall into a dependency on China’s market. “Diversification does not mean decoupling. Diversification means China plus X,” he said. “The German government and the EU must put in place the necessary conditions for this.”
With ‘great concern’ Germany watching Australia-China relationship
Will Germany finally shake the LNP out of it’s sleepwalking dream about coal?
Australian wind and solar farms could help Germany phase out its use of coal under a major export deal which also promises to create thousands of new jobs. Europe’s largest economy has identified Australia as a potential supplier of the vast quantities of hydrogen needed to decarbonise its heavy industry in order to adhere to the Paris climate accord and to achieve Chancellor Angela Merkel’s goal of net zero emissions by 2050.
Germany names hydrogen the hero of its post-coal future
The totes became so successful that last year they were integrated into Vaude’s production line, and Noura Baterdouk, a 38-year-old mother of three who fled to Germany with her family, was hired full time to sew them.
Because she is from Syria, Baterdouk has been granted the right to stay in the country and, unlike Barry, does not face the threat of deportation.
“Integration works,” von Dewitz said, citing the cases of both Barry and Baterdouk. “It’s unbelievably exhausting, but it functions, and I do think it has brought added value to our company.”
via They have jobs and are integrated, but that may not be enough for German asylum seekers
The government’s 2014 Climate Action Programme suggested that increasing energy efficiency could cut emissions by 25 to 30%. Lilium says future passengers will not pay more for a flight than they do now for a regular taxi ride. The company expects its product to be ready for commercial use by 2025.
via Zero Carbon Electric Air Taxi 5-Seater Completes Maiden Flight in Germany
Germany, a pioneer in renewables among the advanced industrial economies, now gets 38% of its electricity from renewables.
In the United States the proportion of electricity generated by renewables is only about 20%, about half as much as Germany, because of the opposition to green energy of Big Oil, Big Coal, Big Gas, and increasingly Big Trump (what has he been eating?) Moreover, much of the increase in renewables in the US is very new, with falling solar and wind prices, whereas Germany has been at this for a long time and thus avoided substantial carbon emissions that it would otherwise have produced.
Reuters reminds us that this proportion is higher than that of coal for the first time. It says that of the renewables the mix was this:
“The 38 per cent was made up of onshore wind supplying 16 per cent, offshore wind with 3 per cent, biomass with 8 per cent, photovoltaics with 8 per cent, hydropower with 3 per cent, and waste and geothermal energy supplying 1 per cent.”
Note that hydropower was down 16% this year because of the horrible drought Germany is undergoing, so that the surge of 2% in renewables is all the more remarkable.
via Germany’s Electricity 38% Renewable in 2018, more than Coal for 1st Time
Germany heads to a bright clean future (ODT)
Germany bid farewell to coal as it closed its last mine Friday, thereby closing a chapter in the history of German industry. Coal was the main engine of growth for the German economy but became obsolete in recent past.
A service was held to commemorate the end of an era when seven miners climbed through the service lift of the Prosper-Haniel mine for the last time with the final block of “black-gold” which they presented to German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Coal mining was a crucial part of German industry since the mid-19th century. Post-World War II, “black gold” was essential in the German economic recovery.
More than 600,000 miners were working in mines during the 1950s. But by 2017, the number of miners decreased to 4,500.
“It’s more than a block of coal, it’s a part of history. Without the coal and without those who extracted it, the History of this country would have been very different,” Steinmeier said during the ceremony of 500 guests, including European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
“The coal allowed the industrialization of the region and prosperity throughout Germany,” said government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer, quoting German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The 150-year-old mines dug by six generations of workers will be sealed and then gradually drowned in water.
via Germany Closes Last Coal Mine, Step toward Ending Era of Dirty Coal
Isn’t this this the Abbott faction of the Liberal Party in Australia? Aren’t they a step ahead of Germany’s AfD? (ODT)
It has become undeniable that the AfD has now adopted large parts of the far-right tradition, including racism and völkisch nationalism (a form of ethnonationalism) as central components within an ideology of inequality, alongside nationalist protectionism and anti-eu economic positions, an emphatic rejection of parliamentarianism and representative democracy, and a long-standing antifeminism and hostility towards gender equality.
via The Antisemitic Turn of the Rising Far Right ‘Alternative for Germany’ Party
64 percent of YouGov respondents believe Trump’s politics pose a greater risk to world peace than those of the Russian leader. Only 16 percent said that Putin’s actions were dangerous.
Meanwhile, at least 36 percent agree with the policies of the Russian leader, while only six percent sided with Trump. Putin is also viewed as more powerful than his American counterpart (43 percent against 25 percent).
The opinions of respondents seem to run counter to the attitude of a number of German politicians in relation to the Putin-Trump meeting, which has been a hot topic of discussion in the media. The country’s lawmakers have long feared that Trump could take actions that are not in line with NATO.
Nearly two-thirds of Germans say Trump is more dangerous than Putin – poll — RT World News
Berlin (AFP) – A member of the German government on Tuesday accused the new US ambassador in Berlin of meddling in domestic politics and aggravating already tense ties, as left-wing parties called for the staunch ally of Donald Trump to be expelled.
Richard Grenell took up his Berlin posting on May 8 and immediately irked Germany when he tweeted the same day that German companies should stop doing business with Iran as Trump quit the nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic.
He stoked further outrage last weekend with reported comments to right-wing news website Breitbart of his ambition to “empower other conservatives throughout Europe, other leaders.”
via Calls grow in Germany to Expel US Ambassador who Aims to Empower Hard Right
AfD promotes anti-Muslim policies and emphasizes Germanness as a superior culture. Its ideology is based on the idea that Germanness can only be acquired biologically. On the campaign trail, Alexander Gauland said that State Minister Aydan Özoğuz, of Turkish descent, should be “disposed in Anatolia.” Several ranking members of AfD openly deny the Holocaust and German responsibility for it. Frauke Petry, another chairperson, opined that German borders should be protected by firing on asylum seekers. She left AfD the day after the elections due to internal power struggles, though she will keep her parliamentarian seat.
Source: German elections dredge up ghosts of the past | +972 Magazine
Supporters take to the streets of Germany to celebrate Parliament’s decision to legalise same-sex marriage, a move that brings the country’s stance into line with France, Britain and Spain.
If the president’s trip to Saudi Arabia and Israel was farcical, his European stop left the world order shaken
Source: After Trump’s disastrous vacation, Angela Merkel warns: The world has no leader – Salon.com
The blow to German Chancellor Angela Merkel could spell the beginning of the end for a union with open borders.
Source: Weekend Roundup: The Berlin Attack Has Sealed The Political Fate Of Europe | The Huffington Post
German police are searching for a Tunisian man over the deadly Christmas market truck attack in Berlin.
German politicians hope to quell rising extremism and eliminate hoaxes.
Source: Germany Weighs Stiff Fines for Social Media Sites That Carry Fake News
‘We have to assume that he is dangerous.’
Source: German City On Lockdown As Police Search For Syrian Bomb Plot Suspect
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a campaign event on Wednesday …
Source: Merkel: Migrants did not bring Radical Terrorism to Germany | Informed Comment
Terrorism’s idiocy defies rational appraisal but Germany has been somewhat immune to radicalism of the Islamic variety.
Source: Munich shooting rattles German calm despite lack of Islamist threat
On Friday, after finishing his daily paper round, Ali David Sonboly prepared for what lay ahead. He armed himself with a 9mm Glock 17 pistol, packed 300 rounds of ammunition into a red rucksack and set out from his parents home at Dachauer Street, in the Maxvorstadt district of Munich on a calculated mission of murder.
Can a man be a feminist? A year 12 student asked me this recently for a school project, and I was thinking, duh.
The Munich shooter had no connection to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) or refugees. He was born and raised on German soil, Bavarian police chief told reporters citing preliminary results of a search of the gunman’s family apartment.
An 18-year-old German-Iranian has murdered at least nine people and injured many more. Apart from that, little else is known of what happened in a shopping mall in the Bavarian capital, but he is reported to have shouted: “I’m German!”.
The gunman who went on a rampage at a shopping centre, leaving nine people dead, had no ties to the Islamic State or other extremist groups.
Source: Munich shooting: Gunman was obsessed with mass killings, had no ties to ISIS
Police investigate whether the violence was racially motivated and in “retaliation” for New Year’s Eve sex attacks.
Source: Foreigners attacked by gangs in Germany – Al Jazeera English
A German punk song rockets to the top of the charts 22 years after its release, following a social media campaign condemning anti-refugee groups.
An Australian company which invented a renewable energy electricity generator says it was forced to move its operation to Germany because of a lack of opportunities in Australia.
Power production from renewables has tripled in Germany within the past decade, mostly from wind and solar.Last year, renewables accounted for 24 per cent of the country’s electricity.The German government introduced generous subsidies to kick-start the sector, amounting to 16 billion euros last year.But the government claims the program has already saved billions in fuel costs for the heavily import-reliant country.
“We have created new businesses worth 40 billion euros per year,” Ecologic Institute analyst Andreas Kraemer said.
“We have created additional employment for up to 400,000 people. They all pay taxes, they all pay social security charges.”German households and small business pay the largest share for the renewable turnaround.They pay around 29 euro cents per kilowatt hour and much of that goes towards a renewable energy surcharge.Big industrial users are exempt from the surcharge and pay just 3.5 cents per kilowatt hour.Most of the subsidies are spent on first-generation solar and wind parks that are locked in high feed-in tariffs of over 40 cents per kilowatt hour for the next 20 years.But there are calls to phase them out all together.
The makeup of the German energy market already looks very different, with hundreds of companies and cooperatives being formed in a decentralised industry.While banks, industry, and project developers own 40 per cent of renewable installations, farmers and private investors own half.A number of new investment vehicles have formed to take advantage of the new industry.Crowd funding start up Bettervest has financed 14 projects since its inception a year ago.Company spokesman Julien Schroder-Gianoncelli said investors are attracted by the projects and the returns.”We are offering 5-10 per cent in interest, which is pretty good at the moment,” he said.
Ceramic Fuel Cells believes Germany’s regulations, incentives and market make it the place to be.Mr Obernitz said that, for the time being at least, there are no incentives available in Australia.”I’m not sure if that is going to change,” he said.”We would favour that because we have invented the technology in Australia, and it’s something that will change the world.”
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