this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2023
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German energy giant RWE has begun dismantling a wind farm to make way for a further expansion of an open-pit lignite coal mine in the western region of North Rhine Westphalia.

I thought renewables were cheaper than coal. How is this possible?

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[–] pseudonym@monyet.cc 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] yogthos@lemmy.ml 24 points 1 year ago

Germany has been rejecting practical solutions for moving off fossil fuels, such as nuclear. Current government is also pursuing a policy of pretending to reduce emissions through deindustrialization which only moves emissions to other countries since people in Germany still need the goods that were produced. This way Germany can claim to be lowering emissions simply by externalizing them. Finally, we see return to coal which is one of the dirtiest fuels around because wind and solar evidently can't keep up even with the energy demands.

[–] cadekat@pawb.social 10 points 1 year ago

Germany has been anti-nuclear for some time, unfortunately. That could be what the above poster was referring to?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-nuclear_movement_in_Germany