Rising energy prices resulting from Germany’s shift to - TopicsExpress



          

Rising energy prices resulting from Germany’s shift to renewables become an ever bigger problem for the country’s economy. Germany has already committed to paying hundreds of billions of euros in subsidies for renewable energy, which has contributed to household electricity costs rising an inflation-adjusted 80 percent since 2000. Still, proponents of these policies often argue that overall the economic impact is positive, thanks to revenues from the “green economy.” In reality, however, Germany’s GDP just contracted by 0.2 percent, and Reuters identifies rising energy prices as a major reason for this development, writing that the “aggressive push into renewables has unnerved German industry. A recent overhaul of the countrys complex renewable energy law has done little to alleviate uncertainty over future policy or assuage fears about German energy competitiveness. Energy intensive industries in particular have lost confidence in the future of Germany as a business location, said Thomas Mayer, a former chief economist at Deutsche Bank who now runs the Cologne-based Flossbach von Storch Research Institute. I think this is a major issue that will burden German industry for years to come. reuters/article/2014/08/15/us-germany-economy-insight-idUSKBN0GF0RF20140815 Economic studies also agree that there is no positive net impact from subsidized green jobs: bit.ly/1o5M8wP Read my article on Germany’s energy policy in Financial Times from earlier this year: bit.ly/1yRgMzV
Posted on: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 13:15:01 +0000

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