Energy Crisis

In his October 21  Washington Post column and his CNN GPS broadcast, Fareed Zakaria discussed how renewable energy sources are failing to completely replace fossil fuels.  His failure to examine the role of nuclear power reactors is a serious oversight.  His only mention of nuclear is to note that Germany eliminated coal, gas and nuclear power sources before it was ready to replace their production. 

Merkel’s decision to get rid of nuclear power in Germany in 2011 because of its bad reputation after the Fukushima nuclear accident, but before she was ready to replace it, illustrates the irrational opposition of environmentalists to nuclear power. 

The New York Times 2011 article reporting on Merkel’s decision reported on the response from German energy companies:

Another factor is the likelihood that Germany, which already gets more than one third of its natural gas from Russia, will grow more dependent. 

The government acknowledges that natural gas and coal-fired power plants will continue to play a big role. They are, after all, able to provide large chunks of power at any time — unlike solar or wind energy, at least with current storage technology. 

Today in 2021 Germany is facing an energy shortage crisis that can be met mainly by importing expensive, climate-warming, natural gas from Russia.