Geothermal energy or gas condensing boiler?

In this respect, it will become even more difficult for gas in the future. Wind power is already almost competitive without subsidies.

The concept of the wind farm is very controversial. Noise pollution and thus the impact on nature are currently under scrutiny.

In my opinion, it is still not possible to make reliable statements about future energy production. We are still in the infancy stage.

The question of heating is a matter of personal preference.

Predicting future energy price developments is like looking into a crystal ball – except that prices will go up. Currently, I would prefer the heat pump because of the subsidies – although personal opinions also play a role, for example independence from gas or fossil fuels. And gas combined with solar naturally shifts the calculation towards the heat pump. If feasible: ground-source heat pump with trench collector – and with some own effort, there is no longer a big price difference compared to gas. Of course, one must not forget that the choice of the heating system should always be based on a correct heating load calculation. I don’t understand all the fuss about wind farms. Here in Upper Franconia there is a wind turbine on every corner. So what? When I think about how the population was kept in the dark or misled about the consequences of nuclear power for decades, and how every taxpayer subsidized nuclear power and will continue to subsidize it for a long time (waste disposal) – the impact of wind power on nature can only be peanuts in comparison.

How far do you live from this wind farm? Have you ever just stuck your head outside near it?

Besides, we must learn from the past and preserve the rest of nature. This also includes the animal world, which demonstrably suffers from the parks.

Besides, we need to learn directly from the past and preserve the rest of nature. This also includes the animal world, which is demonstrably suffering because of the parks.

Well, somehow someone will always suffer. Everyone wants to give up our great coal power plants and nuclear power plants, but no one wants to have wind turbines, pumped storage plants, or whatever at their own place. Humans, we are all selfish.
And whether the bird flies into the rotor or entire regions are devastated by climate change (rising sea levels, dried out landscapes) is quite a difference...
Then I’d rather take wind turbines than the coal power plant.

How far do you live from this wind farm? Have you ever just stuck your head out in the vicinity of it?

Besides, we need to learn from the past and preserve the rest of nature. This also includes the wildlife, which is demonstrably suffering from the parks.

Yes, the big "dog walking route" goes through a small park - I know what I'm talking about. The wildlife suffers... - primarily because of us humans and our contempt for nature combined with economically driven egoism. But: they certainly suffer less from wind power than from nuclear power plants and coal power plants - and their long-term consequences...

Hi everyone,

the problem is unfortunately a fundamental one, something that no green ideologues or laws or subsidies of any kind can somehow change.

The problem is called reality!

It unfortunately remains the case that neither solar energy nor wind power can replace conventional power plants. At least not as long as truly serious storage capacities for energy are available. And now please don’t come to me with any batteries in electric cars or even worse lithium battery packs in the basement. (Anyone who has installed such a bomb in their house in my opinion doesn’t have all their marbles. Have you ever seen a small lithium battery catch fire? You don’t want to think about the big ones...). Aside from the environmental impact of manufacturing the battery packs. That is such a mess, there are reasons why there are no battery factories in Germany.

Currently, no energy storage technology is in sight that can deliver really serious performance. Yes, a few hydropower plants are still possible, but then you again have the Greens protesting (because some field hamster would lose its home in the lake) and in relation to the performance needed for all of Germany, that’s peanuts.

"Power to gas" could be an approach, but the efficiency is not great and at the end there is again a combustion process, so for most green ideologues this is a work of the devil.

That leaves the unresolved problem of wind and solar power plants:

What do you do on a windless night?
It’s supposed to happen quite often...

This inevitably leads to the fact that you basically have to keep the entire necessary grid capacity (which we are currently building as renewable energy with insane subsidies) as conventional power plants anyway. These plants then mostly run in partial load operation, where efficiency is absolutely terrible. Ergo, the companies of course try to run the cheapest power plants they have. After the nuclear reactors have been shut down, these are the lignite power plants. Probably the biggest polluters around. And coal power plants, which are also not great but at least less bad, are going offline.

Result: Germany emits more CO2 than before the energy transition... worked out great...!

It gets worse:

It would really make ecological sense to cover energy demand with wind and sun and to start gas turbine power plants when additional power is needed. These have the advantage, on the one hand, that they have the lowest CO2 emissions of all conventional power plants and emit almost no dirt, and even more importantly;

compared to a coal power plant they can ramp up lightning fast (about 15-30 minutes compared to 12-24 hours). They could therefore be used as regulating power plants, especially since the currently best and most efficient gas turbine in the world is developed and built here in Germany. It achieves over 60% efficiency, practically the limit.

But unfortunately gas is significantly more expensive than coal, so it is cheaper to run the coal boilers inefficiently at partial load than to deliberately start a gas turbine. Result: lots of CO2 for nothing and no reason...

But good subsidies were paid to the Chinese photovoltaic industry, those guys in the East can’t sleep from laughing anymore!

And Siemens in combination with the operator is currently trying to get rid of or mothball the showcase plant in Munich with the super turbine. Instead, another lignite boiler runs at partial load...

The extra costs are simply added to the renewable energy surcharge and that’s that.

The fact that attempts are made, by energy saving regulation at all costs, to install electric heating = heat pumps makes the problem even worse. In principle not a bad idea to burn unnecessary power but unfortunately I don’t need my heating energy at noon in summer (when I have excess renewable electricity) but at night in winter (when there is little renewable electricity). In other words, your heat pump will in reality consume mostly conventionally generated electricity and will therefore in terms of CO2 emissions per unit of heat certainly not do better than a gas boiler, probably significantly worse.

Long story short:

As long as this madness is not stopped and political decision-makers here in Germany don’t finally demand some expertise, I have little hope that this will change.

For this reason alone, electricity prices will continue to rise consistently, even though we have now installed so much renewable capacity that on sunny, windy days the price on the electricity exchange is sometimes negative at midday, i.e. you get paid to take electricity! Simply because the power plant operators cannot regulate their coal boilers fast enough.

Also the fact that renewables have their environmental problems (does anyone here really believe that their cheap Chinese photovoltaic modules were made according to German environmental protection standards?), wind turbines shred birds and drive local residents crazy with their noise, offshore wind farms kill many animals already during installation (the noise caused when driving in the foundations kills animals), cable routes have to be laid through the Wadden Sea and gigantic power highways are needed across the whole country is another topic.

The whole problem is much more complex than many lobbyists, legislators and also green ideologues make it out to be. And the laws of nature don’t give a damn about what any party in Berlin wants right now.

Electricity just doesn’t come out of the socket...

Best regards,

Andreas