Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Germany's Renewable Energy Technologies Generate 10 Percent of Its
Electricity
In 2000, the German government enacted the Renewable Energy Sources Act
to accelerate the growth of renewable energy technologies in the German
electricity market. It amended the act in 2004 to increase country targets for
renewable technologies and further develop the framework conditions for
renewable technologies.[37] The Renewable Energy Sources Act requires
electricity grid operators to purchase electricity generated from renewable energy
technologies and establishes minimum rates for it. Germany's goal is to increase
the share of renewable energy consumption to at least 4.2 percent of its total
energy requirements by 2010, 10 percent by 2020, and at least 50 percent by
2050. The target for 2010 was exceeded in 2005, when renewable technologies
accounted for 4.6 percent of consumption. The German government is also
offering tax relief for biofuels and financial support for constructing plants that
generate heat and/or electricity from renewable energy sources. In response,
Germany has more than doubled its electricity consumption from renewable
energy sources—from 4.8 percent in 1998 to 10.2 percent in 2005. In particular,
Germany generated about 1 billion kilowatt-hours of solar electricity in 2005,
tripling the generation of electricity from solar cells in 2 years. Germany has also
become the world leader in wind energy with 18,428 megawatts of installed wind
capacity that produced 26.5 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2005.
Under the Kyoto Protocol and as a member of the European Union, Germany
has committed to a 21-percent reduction in the 1990 baseline year's greenhouse
gas emissions from 2008 to 2012. The German government believes the
Renewable Energy Sources Act is one of Germany's most effective and efficient
instruments for climate protection, stating that using renewable energy
technologies prevented the emission of approximately 84 million tons of carbon
dioxide in 2005. The government also states that renewable energy technologies
have created jobs in Germany—the renewables sector had 157,000 jobs in 2004,
including 64,000 jobs in wind power, 57,000 jobs in biomass, and 25,000 in the
solar industry. The government estimates that renewable energy jobs increased to
170,000 in 2005, and German industry estimates that this number will grow to
more than 255,000 by 2010.
Japan Has Installed over 931 Megawatts of Residential Solar Systems
In 1994, Japan launched a 10-year residential solar project as part of its
efforts to deploy domestic energy technologies that would diversify its energy
portfolio and reduce its dependence on energy imports.[38] The goal of the
residential solar project was to reduce the cost of photovoltaics and promote
