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Robert Habeck: »If a lot of people do it, it really adds up in the end«
Photo: Frederic Kern / Geisler Fotopress / picture alliance
And, have you changed your shower head to save hot water?
And explaining to the family that the evening bath is over now?
After all, the Federal Minister of Economics personally declared saving energy to be a national task.
He is right.
At least since Putin put Germany on severe gas withdrawal this week, it is clear that the country must give up hope that Russia will dutifully help us to fill up the gas storage tanks for the coming winter.
Habeck announced that every percentage point counts.
The practical savings tips from the ministry have so far been aimed primarily at private consumers: "Regularly defrost the freezer compartment, change the shower head or switch the lighting in offices to LED," advised the minister last week at the start of the energy-saving campaign.
»If a lot of people do it, it really adds up in the end.«
It's not enough to sedate the country by announcing ever-increasing storage levels
That's not wrong.
And it's true, every cubic meter of gas saved helps.
Germans urgently need to reduce their energy consumption.
But it's also true, unfortunately, that none of this is enough at the back or front.
The showerhead as a weapon in the gas war against Putin?
How cute.
Even if Germany were to collectively change the fittings and do without a hot bath more often, the gas storage tanks won't be filled if nothing more comes from Russia.
The share of private households in gas consumption in summer is just around ten percent.
If ten percent were saved as a result of a collective effort, the overall effect would still be small.
At the earliest in the fall, when the Germans turn on the heating again, such appeals would really bear fruit.
One cannot accuse the minister of not having recognized the seriousness of the situation.
For weeks he has been admonishing and warning that the current supply is secured, but the situation is quite serious.
Germany must be vigilant and prepare.
Only on Wednesday did the minister follow up again in a video message on Twitter.
Only: why has nothing followed from these warnings so far, apart from a few austerity appeals, which seem almost bizarre in view of the daily shortage of gas from Russia?
The fact that the minister is now announcing that he will legislate energy saving if necessary only shows that he himself has doubts about the effectiveness of his appeals.
Putin uses gas as a weapon, just as he uses starvation as a weapon.
Anyone who hasn't wanted to admit that up until now should have been taught better in the past few days at the latest.
Turning the throttle is a strategic decision, and the only way to counter it is to gear up strategically.
Not by sedating the country with the announcement of constantly increasing storage levels and the phrase "The gas supply is stable".
Habeck doesn't do the wrong thing, just too little of the right thing
It is understandable that the federal government does not want to stir up panic, which would drive up energy prices even further.
And Habeck doesn't do the wrong thing, but too little of the right thing.
Significant amounts of gas could be saved every week if the gas-fired power plants were no longer used to generate electricity.
In May 2022, electricity production from natural gas reached a record level compared to previous years – gas crisis or not.
However, the federal government only plans to shut down the power plants in the event that the gas shortage is already there or is imminent.
The corresponding law should go through the Bundestag and Bundesrat at the beginning of July.
In view of the ever-increasing pinpricks from the Kremlin, it would at least be appropriate to discuss whether gas-fired power plants should not be shut down as a precaution and the coal piles step in temporarily to fill the storage tanks.
This is not good news for climate protection, but the damage would be manageable.
Emissions trading for the energy industry means that the resulting increase in CO2 emissions must be saved elsewhere by 2030.
That should be possible.
It would also be conceivable to use auctions and premium payments to motivate companies to stop using gas - the idea has been on the table for months, but in Habeck's ministry it was left there for a long time.
Valuable time, which is needed to design such a model intelligently, was lost.
Klaus Müller, head of the Federal Network Agency, now wants to implement the idea.
The only thing is that little is prepared for this.
The ministry plans to start in the fall.
Even those companies that can switch their processes from gas to coal or oil usually need many months to do so.
So if the gas waiver should not lead to a decline in economic power, it would have been wise to design incentive systems as early as possible.
Now one can argue that the effect of such measures would also be manageable.
Maybe.
Only: They always do more than hope that the Germans will voluntarily take cold showers.
