The energy revolution necessary to slow global warming could benefit German industry and investors. Find out who will win and how.
 | Wind PowerThis five-Megawatt REpower wind generator is one of the biggest in the world. (Photo: Reuters) |
Germany boasts one of the world’s biggest and most advanced renewable energy sectors. In 2007, the renewable energy industry employed some 217,000 people. The German Association for Renewable Energy estimates that some 60.000 new jobs will be created by 2010, although the economic crisis could thwart this prognosis.
Germany is well placed to maintain a leading role as an exporter of environmental technology as other countries – such as China and India – consume more renewable energy. The industry's turnover exceeded 11 billion euros in 2007, with future growth projected. The German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) says environmental technology could replace the automobile sector as the country’s most important export industry.
Wind Power
Wind energy is the centerpiece of Germany’s renewable energy sector. The German Wind Energy Association (BWE) says that the megawatt capacity of wind energy jumped in Germany by more than 23 percent in 2006, while the global market grew by 30 percent. Revenues from wind exports reached 3 billion euros in 2005, the BWE reports.
Solar Power
Germany is also a global leader – along with Japan and the United States – in the manufacturing and installation of solar thermal and photovoltaic technology. Declining production costs and government policies such as the Renewable Energy Act and the "100,000 Roofs Program" has led to the rapid expansion of photovoltaic capacity in Germany.
In 2005 and 2006, Germans installed over 800 Megawatts (MW) of photovoltaic capacity, the largest growth of any country. In 2007, this impressive figure grew to 1.1 gigawatts, nearly half of the 2.3 gigawatts installed worldwide that year.
Carbon dioxide emissions trading
Beyond the promise of renewable energies, German investors can benefit from the opportunities of the global carbon market created by the Kyoto Protocol and the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), which represented about 18.1 billion euros in transactions in 2006.
Energy consumption
German communities have explored sustainable forms of development. Vauban is a small town of 4,700 residents developed on a former military base in southwestern Germany which experimented with various “green” principles, most notably a lack of cars. Only 150 out of every 1,000 residents own a car, while a parking space in Vauban reportedly costs over 17,000 euros.
But it is not only small towns that are looking at ways to cut energy demand. The German capital of Berlin, a city of around 3.5 million people, has been recognized as a leading “green” city due in part to its reduction of carbon dioxide emissions since 1990 and its ongoing promotion of energy efficiency and renewable energy use.
The Reichstag, the German parliament, is the city’s most famous environmentally friendly building, complete with rooftop solar panels and innovative systems that efficiently regulate the internal air and water temperatures.
editor: Valdis Wish
latest update: April 17, 2009
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