IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v99y2016icp224-232.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Coal, nuclear and renewable energy policies in Germany: From the 1950s to the “Energiewende”

Author

Listed:
  • Renn, Ortwin
  • Marshall, Jonathan Paul

Abstract

Over the last 50 years, German energy policy has ranged from strong enthusiasm for both coal and nuclear energy to deep skepticism. The most dramatic changes with respect to energy policies have occurred as a response to nuclear accidents, yet the accidental and unintended effects of coal policies are also important in influencing the trajectory. The newly emerging climate debate prevented the coal industry from acting as a substitute for the diminishing share of nuclear power. In 2011 the conservative government announced the Energiewende (‘energy transformation’) and decided to reduce the amount of fossil fuels from 80% of the energy supply to 20% by 2050. However, while the verdict on nuclear was unequivocal with a final phase-out date of 2022, the share of coal in the electricity market did not decrease and the amount of carbon dioxide released into the air slightly increased from 2011 to 2013. There are growing conflicts over the immediate costs and practicalities of coal replacement. Consequently, the future of coal in Germany is still relatively open and contested.

Suggested Citation

  • Renn, Ortwin & Marshall, Jonathan Paul, 2016. "Coal, nuclear and renewable energy policies in Germany: From the 1950s to the “Energiewende”," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 224-232.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:99:y:2016:i:c:p:224-232
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2016.05.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421516302294
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2016.05.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. González-Eguino, Mikel, 2015. "Energy poverty: An overview," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 377-385.
    2. Wolfgang Buchholz & Johannes Pfeiffer, 2011. "Energiepolitische Implikationen einer Energiewende," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 64(18), pages 30-39, October.
    3. Fagerberg, Jan & Laestadius, Staffan & Martin, Ben R. (ed.), 2015. "The Triple Challenge for Europe: Economic Development, Climate Change, and Governance," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198747413.
    4. Moeller, Caroline & Meiss, Jan & Mueller, Berit & Hlusiak, Markus & Breyer, Christian & Kastner, Michael & Twele, Jochen, 2014. "Transforming the electricity generation of the Berlin–Brandenburg region, Germany," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 39-50.
    5. Olav H. Hohmeyer & Sönke Bohm, 2015. "Trends toward 100% renewable electricity supply in Germany and Europe: a paradigm shift in energy policies," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4(1), pages 74-97, January.
    6. Andor, Mark A. & Frondel, Manuel & Schmidt, Christoph M. & Simora, Michael & Sommer, Stephan, 2015. "Klima- und Energiepolitik in Deutschland: Dissens und Konsens," RWI Materialien 91, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hansen, Kenneth & Breyer, Christian & Lund, Henrik, 2019. "Status and perspectives on 100% renewable energy systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 471-480.
    2. Guandalini, Giulio & Campanari, Stefano & Romano, Matteo C., 2015. "Power-to-gas plants and gas turbines for improved wind energy dispatchability: Energy and economic assessment," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 117-130.
    3. Jan Fagerberg & Martin Srholec, 2017. "Global Dynamics, Capabilities and the Crisis," Economic Complexity and Evolution, in: Andreas Pyka & Uwe Cantner (ed.), Foundations of Economic Change, pages 83-106, Springer.
    4. Bezerra, Paula & Cruz, Talita & Mazzone, Antonella & Lucena, André F.P. & De Cian, Enrica & Schaeffer, Roberto, 2022. "The multidimensionality of energy poverty in Brazil: A historical analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    5. Kolb, Sebastian & Plankenbühler, Thomas & Frank, Jonas & Dettelbacher, Johannes & Ludwig, Ralf & Karl, Jürgen & Dillig, Marius, 2021. "Scenarios for the integration of renewable gases into the German natural gas market – A simulation-based optimisation approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    6. Yuru Guan & Jin Yan & Yuli Shan & Yannan Zhou & Ye Hang & Ruoqi Li & Yu Liu & Binyuan Liu & Qingyun Nie & Benedikt Bruckner & Kuishuang Feng & Klaus Hubacek, 2023. "Burden of the global energy price crisis on households," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 8(3), pages 304-316, March.
    7. Leonard Goke & Jens Weibezahn & Christian von Hirschhausen, 2021. "A collective blueprint, not a crystal ball: How expectations and participation shape long-term energy scenarios," Papers 2112.04821, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2022.
    8. Andrade, Carlos & Selosse, Sandrine & Maïzi, Nadia, 2022. "The role of power-to-gas in the integration of variable renewables," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 313(C).
    9. Anna Zsofia Bajomi & Nóra Feldmár & Sergio Tirado-Herrero, 2021. "Will Plans to Ease Energy Poverty Go Up in Smoke? Assessing the Hungarian NECP through the Lens of Solid Fuel Users’ Vulnerabilities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-20, November.
    10. Gianluca Trotta & Kirsten Gram-Hanssen & Pernille Lykke Jørgensen, 2020. "Heterogeneity of Electricity Consumption Patterns in Vulnerable Households," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-17, September.
    11. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Raghutla, Chandrashekar & Chittedi, Krishna Reddy & Jiao, Zhilun & Vo, Xuan Vinh, 2020. "The effect of renewable energy consumption on economic growth: Evidence from the renewable energy country attractive index," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    12. Lee, Heerae & Shon, Huijoo, 2024. "Spatial and temporal patterns of energy aid and poverty in four African countries: Focusing on distributive and recognition justice," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    13. Goraj, Rafał & Kiciński, Marcin & Ślefarski, Rafał & Duczkowska, Anna, 2023. "Validity of decision criteria for selecting power-to-gas projects in Poland," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    14. Stefan Arens & Sunke Schlüters & Benedikt Hanke & Karsten von Maydell & Carsten Agert, 2020. "Sustainable Residential Energy Supply: A Literature Review-Based Morphological Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-28, January.
    15. Vincent Van Roy & Daniel Vertesy & Marco Vivarelli, 2015. "The Employment Impact of Innovation: Evidence from European Patenting Companies," DISCE - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Politica Economica ispe0075, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    16. Lin, Boqiang & Wang, Yao, 2020. "Analyzing the elasticity and subsidy to reform the residential electricity tariffs in China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 189-206.
    17. Kettani, Maryème & Sanin, Maria Eugenia, 2024. "Energy consumption and energy poverty in Morocco," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    18. Pérez Gelves, Jhon Jairo & Østergaard, Poul Alberg & Díaz Flórez, Guillermo Andrés, 2023. "Energy poverty assessment and the impact of Covid-19: An empirical analysis of Colombia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    19. Jan Fagerberg, 2023. "The global green shift: Where it comes from, how it works, and where it’s heading," Working Papers on Innovation Studies 20230923, Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture, University of Oslo.
    20. Koomson, Isaac & Orkoh, Emmanuel & Ahmad, Shabbir, 2023. "Non-farm entrepreneurship, caste, and energy poverty in rural India," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(PA).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:99:y:2016:i:c:p:224-232. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.