As I was reading Doris Wrench Eisler's (Gazette, March 1) lengthy missive “Responding to Critics” I was astounded to read, “Germany uses no fossil fuels or nuclear energy and exports green technology quite profitably.”
Wow, Germany, a country smaller than the province of Ontario with a population of over 80 million, has over 61 million registered vehicles of which 45.07 million are passenger vehicles and less than .02 per cent of those are electric. What do they use to power all those Audis, BMWs and VWs?
A little research on the Internet and I found that Germany is de-commissioning its nuclear power plants, but seven are still operating and provide 6.5 percent of Germany's power. Decommissioning is planned for 2022 but will probably not happen till 2036.
Fossil fuel provides 79.7 per cent of all German energy. Germany burns over 70 million tonnes of coal annually to produce 45 percent of all its electrical energy. They are the eighth largest coal user in the world and burning that coal contributes over 9 percent of all CO2 emissions in the Eurpoean Union.
In 2015 Germany used 2.338 million barrels of oil per day.
I realize that Germany is making a great effort to move to renewable energy, but they, like Canada have a long way to go.
M. Barbeau, St. Albert
