“How can these contradictions be explained? Rather like our own government, Merkel’s administration is prepared to support only those measures which don’t hurt big business. It pours billions of euros into useless schemes which generate corporate revenue (such as the half million solar roofs it has paid for so far, which contribute a grand total of 0.4% of Germany’s electricity supply) and opposes effective schemes which would clobber carbon emissions but hurt corporate profits. The German government is prepared to go green only when it costs corporations nothing.”

“But despite the clear financial incentive, and the risk of being savaged on the street by right-thinking environmentalists, I have to admit that I think that feed-in tariffs are one of the most mistaken ideas ever to worm their way into UK law. Nothing better demonstrates the vacuity of the climate change debate in the UK than the unthinking obeisance to the romantic idea of paying people money to generate tiny quantities of electricity on their back roofs.”

“Germany shattered the theory that renewable energy is a niche player by achieving a 14% share of renewables in its electricity market in 2007. Germany’s vision for renewable energy reinvigorated rural communities throughout the country through the creation of 249,000 jobs and generated $38.8 billion USD in associated economic activity in 2007 alone. After achieving its target 12.5% renewable share of total electricity three years early, the country revised its future targets to 27% renewables by 2020 and 45% renewables by 2030, according to its Federal Ministry for the Environment”

“Smil points out that the sunlight reaching the surface of the earth is truly enormous compared to human energy demands — something like 10,000 times as large as all human energy needs. But the resource is diffuse, not concentrated, so it will require 10 to 100 times as much physical space to use sunlight instead of fossil fuels (or 1000 to 10,000 times as much space, if we opt for growing biofuels). Still, direct conversion of solar energy into both low-temperature and high- temperature heat, plus electricity, “could supply a lasting, planet- wide foundation for non-fossil economies,” Smil says”