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The era of energy shortages - and the uncomplaining acceptance of the Germans

Freezing, cold showers and blackouts are the order of the day.

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The era of energy shortages - and the uncomplaining acceptance of the Germans

Freezing, cold showers and blackouts are the order of the day. These are the consequences of an energy policy that phased out old technologies, but made it difficult or even impossible for new alternatives to get started – such as fracking. In fact, it is not only disturbing that such a policy of intended shortages finds more or less uncomplaining acceptance among the population.

During the election campaign, for example, nobody campaigned aggressively and sustainably for the use of the gigantic natural gas deposits in Lower Saxony. Even more disconcerting is the fact that while society fears the road to an energy crisis, it prefers asceticism to pragmatic life extensions for existing plants.

Because what the party leader of the Greens, Ricarda Lang, says is quite obviously true, namely that the population punishes those parties that “campaign strongly for the return to nuclear power”.

In times as cold and dark as these, it is no wonder that doomsday moods, doomsday scenarios and endgame predictions are gaining traction. For almost everyone, it is no longer a question of whether the lights will go out, homes will stay cold, inflation will eat away at the purchasing power of pensions, wages and savings, and prosperity will be lost. All that matters is the when and where of the deprivations, how long a recession will last and how deep the losses will be.

Accordingly, harm reduction seems to be the best of all possible options. Some are content with managing a shortage in the best possible way and distributing its consequences most fairly, even if one political botch follows the next. Yes, even liberals are losing faith in market forces and prefer to put price brakes - instead of solving distribution problems with unearmarked (but taxable!) direct payments to everyone.

When the need is greatest, not only is God's help and salvation closest. The hour of the brave also strikes. They do not seek improvement by stubbornly clinging to the ideologies that are the causes of today's misery.

Rather, they strive for creative ideas to overcome the shortage in the long term. Scarcity should not be overcome by further restraint in energy consumption. It can be eliminated much more effectively by expanding the energy supply.

For a long time there have been so many clever ideas on how far more energy can be generated than is required today and will also be needed in the foreseeable future. And the good news is that top German research in particular has found viable methods to substantially reduce or even completely eliminate the climate, environmental or radioactivity risks associated with fossil energy or nuclear power. For example, the Potsdam Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (MPIKG) has developed artificial humic substances.

After another bankruptcy in the state elections in Lower Saxony, the FDP wants to sharpen its profile. Now the Liberals are calling for all three to continue running instead of just two nuclear power plants and blocked a bill by the Greens. Meanwhile, thousands continue to take to the streets in East Germany.

Source: WORLD

A special “recipe” can be used to produce a product mixture from biowaste such as green waste, leaf waste or tree bark that improves soil quality. Produced in bulk and added to soils worldwide, an enormous amount of CO2 could be bound (and its negative consequences neutralized) - namely about the "amount that has been additionally emitted by mankind in the last ten years," says Markus Antonietti, Director at MPIKG.

Liberals should pull the trigger. Instead of supporting a backwards-oriented course of exit and scarcity in a traffic light coalition (and then having to take the beating for it unilaterally while the Reds and Greens are re-elected), a flight forward would be more promising. Not counting on more growth is a risk. Rather, doing without more growth is the risk – and not only for the economy, but also for the environment.

There is more than enough knowledge in Germany about how energy can be used more efficiently, produced and used sustainably and without negative consequences for the climate, the environment and future generations - without any bad conscience towards nature and children's children.

On the contrary: Developing technologies to improve the quality of air, water, soil and thus the climate and environment, making them usable on a daily basis in industrial production processes and exporting the resulting ecological core competencies economically and successfully worldwide is by far the largest, most sustainable and most effective Contribution that Germany can make for a better future for everyone.

Thomas Straubhaar is a professor of economics, in particular international economic relations, at the University of Hamburg.

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