Details zur Publikation

Kategorie Textpublikation
Referenztyp Berichte
URL http://hdl.handle.net/10419/64555
Volltext Publikationsdokument
Titel (primär) The German Energiewende under attack - is there an irrational Sonderweg?
Autor Gawel, E.; Strunz, S.; Lehmann, P.
Quelle UFZ Discussion Papers
Erscheinungsjahr 2012
Department OEKON
Band/Volume 15/2012
Seite bis 14
Sprache englisch
Keywords Energy supply; energy transition; externalities; Germany; renewable energy sources; support policies; sustainability
Abstract The German energy transition repeatedly faces harsh critiques questioning its economic
and environmental merit. This article defends the Energiewende and argues that
Germany has chosen a rational and particularly forceful approach to securing sustainable
energy supply. Though current expenditures are high, the long‐run benefits of transforming
the energy system to a renewables‐based system are likely to outweigh present investment
costs. Furthermore, support policies for renewables are not redundant – as some critics
claim – but complement other policy instruments, such as the emissions trading scheme.
The article also addresses the motives behind the discrediting attacks on the German energy
policy regime. Defense actions by beneficiaries of the former energy market structure are
only to be expected, but the attacks from liberal economists are astonishingly fierce.

dauerhafte UFZ-Verlinkung https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=12949
Gawel, E., Strunz, S., Lehmann, P. (2012):
The German Energiewende under attack - is there an irrational Sonderweg?
UFZ Discussion Papers 15/2012
Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung - UFZ, Leipzig, 14 pp.