Since energy security was a topic of debate on here a while back and some folks predicted Germans would be freezing to death, have power blackouts and general armageddon taking place, here's what the situation currently looks like:
- The
national gas reserves are still 91.1% full and keep increasing. It is near impossible for the predicted shortage scenarios to take place this winter. In fact, the government has started to sell some of its gas because it bought too much of the stuff, just in case.
-
Energy consumption is lower than in previous years and keeps dropping. There were two cold weeks in december when people heated more and there was a short spike, but as soon as the weather got milder again, energy consumption dropped dramatically again. The winter has been so mild (climate change and all that) that we needed little heating so far. Communities cut down on public christmas lighting, public pools were heated a little less, stuff like that, nothing drastic, but enough to make a measurable dent. Unlike in the UK there wasn't really a "eat or heat" crises.
-
Gas prices have been dropping for months and keep dropping.
- Last year's
targets for more wind and solar energy were (over)fulfilled. A lot more has to be done, but things are happening. On average 49.2% of all energy generated in Germany in 2022 was from renewable sources (in fact yesterday it was 55% because of strong winds).
-
Gasoline prices and electricity prices keep going down.
source:
https://www.zeit.de/wirtschaft/energiemonitor-deutschland-gaspreis-spritpreis-energieversorgung
