Energy

Germany has drawn a lot of attention for the Energiewende - the aim to switch to a renewable energy economy, phase out nuclear power and leave fossil fuels behind. But what exactly is the German energy transition: How does it works and what challenges lay ahead? Please explore the special multilingual web dossier with a comprehensive report, glossary, interactive blog, mediabox. This website is intended to provide facts and explain the politics and policies to an international audience (available in seven languages, inc. Polish). The report highlights the effects of the Energiewende on the German economy, environment and society and addresses the most important questions.

Economic and environmental goals sometimes appear to require opposite paths of action. This paper by Uwe Nestle demonstrates, however, that there is a single solution to Europe’s threefold challenges of achieving climate protection goals while ensuring security of supply and affordable energy for a competitive economy: an expansion in the share of renewable energy. Renewables not only drastically reduce emissions; they also create jobs and offer real medium- and long-term savings to the European economy.

In 2013, the Heinrich Böll Foundation, in cooperation with Ecologic Institute, invited experts from the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland to discuss the prospects for better cross-border cooperation arising from Germany’s energy transition.The report outlines key observations made by the experts, and helps to identify key questions requiring further investigation. By addressing the information gaps and core issues – such as electricity markets, loop flows and renewable energy support schemes – the report is an impulse for a deeper debate in future. The recommendations illustrate the importance of stronger collaboration where there are shared interests, which we would like to encourage.

This study is the first attempt at a more precise specification of a plan for the development of a “national roadmap” for microgeneration based on renewable energy sources, including energy and heat sources, in Polish households. The “roadmap” focuses on the presentation of the current situation of microgeneration based on renewable energy sources in households and the real path for their development until 2020.

The World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2013, launched on July 10th in Brussels, debunks the myth that the world is seeing a nuclear renaissance. Two years after Fukushima, global nuclear power generation continues to decline.

Climate protection and a secure energy supply both are questions of our future. The European Union must set itself ambitious goals if it wants to maintain its political dynamic. A feasibility study by Michaele Schreyer and Lutz Mez in collaboration with David Jacobs.

Meeting 100% of Europe’s electricity needs through renewable energy by 2050 is possible – if we succeed in pooling the potential of Europe’s renewable energy sources. The Heinrich Böll Foundation asked a number of experts to take stock of European policy in the sectors most important for the transition to renewable energy, to identify the areas in which European cooperation has been inadequate to date, and to propose possible solutions. In this publication two Polish experts, Grzegorz Wiśniewski and Dr. Zbigniew M. Karaczun, consider how the collective use of renewable energies by European countries in electric power generation can improve energy security in Europe.