Nuclear Götterdämmerung in Germany as Two Cooling Towers Demolished

Götterdämmerung, which literally means “Twilight of the Gods” in German, refers to a cataclysmic downfall or apocalyptic destruction.

It seems appropriate to use this term, as Germans just destroyed their two nuclear power plant cooling towers and now will enjoy a lot of low-energy twilight and the cataclysmic downfall of their nation’s economy.

The two towers, equivalent to roughly 56,000 tonnes of concrete, collapsed in a controlled demolition on Saturday. It comes as part of Germany’s nuclear phaseout.Two cooling towers of the former nuclear power plant in Germay’s Bavarian town of Gundremmingen were brought down in a controlled demolition at noon on Saturday.The plant had served as an important landmark in the town for nearly six decades, bringing numerous new jobs and boosting the local economy.As part of the country’s nuclear phaseout and under Germany’s energy transition policy, the Gundremmingen, as well as the Brokdorf, and Grohnde nuclear power plants, had already been decommissioned in December 2021.

Legal Insurrection readers will recall that Germany’s foray into NetZero inanity led to increased coal use and higher carbon dioxide emissions. Furthermore, last year, the once-robustly productive country had to address wind energy shortages resulting from a 12-day dunkelflaute (wind drought/dark calm).

“Experts” are warning about energy shortfalls in 2030.

Germany’s Federal Network Agency on Wednesday warned that rare electricity shortfalls could occur as early as 2030 if the country’s energy transition stalls, though supply is otherwise expected to remain secure through 2035.The Security of Supply Report, approved by the federal cabinet on Wednesday, highlights the risks should renewable expansion slow, new gas-fired power plants fail to materialize, and electricity demand not become sufficiently flexible.The report stresses the importance of controllable generation capacity, flexible power consumption from new users such as electric vehicles and continued grid expansion.In a downside scenario, delays in the rollout of renewables, grid expansion and demand flexibility could push the need for new gas capacity to as much as 36 gigawatts.

I predict the shortfalls sooner, with some spectacular Spanish-style blackouts. We’ll see who’s right in about 4 short years.

Energy costs are slated to rise, which makes sense when your “experts” chose to detonate a safe and efficient method to make affordable energy.

Average heating costs in Germany are set to rise in 2025 due to higher energy prices and a cold winter at the start of the year, said non-profit consultancy co2online in an analysis of household heating and buildings data as well as research calculations.While falling energy prices had led to lower costs in 2024, households are now faced with higher bills for homes heated by gas (+15%), heating oil (+3%), district heating (+2%) heat pumps (+5%), and wood pellets (+20%).co2online warned that heating with the fossil fuels oil and gas would become significantly more expensive over the next two decades, as carbon prices rise. An unrenovated single-family home with gas heating would incur heating costs of around 120,000 euros over a period of 20 years. Energy-efficient modernisation and switching to a heat pump could reduce the costs to around 16,000 euros over the same period, the consultancy said.

Germans are going to find it difficult to pay for expensive energy once they are jobless.

Hot Air’s Beege Welborn reminds everyone that regular Germans clearly understood the consequences, but as in all myths, the prophecies of energy doom were ignored.

… Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck knew when they hid the results of an energy survey proving that keeping the nuclear plants open would reduce CO2 emissions by 2530M tons, a number four and half times greater and far less expensive (as the nuclear plants were already in operation) than Merkel’s EnergieWende was going to cost and provide.The government also ran roughshod over the objections of the German people, who’d done a 180 and wanted the nukes to keep on glowin’. Not that what the people want ever matters to German politicians once they’re in power.

German operas rarely end on a happy note. Unfortunately, it appears the ending of this saga will be very sad for the German people.

Tags: Energy, Environment, Germany

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