The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Energy crisis: how the Rhein-Hunsrück district can do without Putin's gas

2022-07-26T19:01:43.418Z


Electricity from wind power, own heating systems: The Rhein-Hunsrück district has been covering its own energy needs for years. The potential has not even been exhausted.


AreaRead the video transcript expand here

Just a couple of wind turbines - you might think so.

But these are part of an energy mix that makes an entire district independent of Putin's gas.

The Rhein-Hunsrück district has achieved what many communities and districts in Germany are currently dreaming of: being climate-neutral and independent of energy imports such as gas or coal.

Frank-Michael Uhle, climate protection manager for the Rhein-Hunsrück district


»Until 1995, not a single kilowatt hour of energy was generated in our district.

Everything had to be imported.

Then there were courageous visionaries who said: wars are fought over oil and gas.

We must do something about it.

They collected money for the first windmill.

That produced electricity for two hundred households.

Today we have 279 wind turbines that produce the equivalent of electricity for 300,000 households.«

Only a little more than 100,000 people live here.

The district uses 1.5 billion kilowatt hours a year - and thus covers 310 percent of its own electricity requirements.

At the beginning of the 2000s, the district administration began to renovate buildings and gradually convert to renewable energies.

Today, schools, public buildings, households and swimming pools are supplied with their own energy mix.

This makes a mixture of wind power, solar and biofuel possible.

Even their own tree and shrub waste is used for this - and there is still potential for improvement.

Thomas Lorenz, Rhein-Hunsrück Entsorgung


»We currently use about half of the waste generated and if we were to process all materials, all tree and shrub cuttings, appropriately, we could operate at least three more heating systems.

Then we could theoretically operate six systems.

And as I said, we now have a potential of around one million heating oil equivalents per year.

So basically, with our tree and shrub trimmings, we could actually replace 2 million liters of heating oil a year in a district with 100,000 inhabitants with appropriate heating systems.«

On Monday, the Russian state-owned company Gazprom announced that it would deliver even less gas through the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, which was recently put back into operation.

Only a fifth of the possible capacity should reach Germany.

The alleged reason: repairing a turbine.

The Federal Republic as a whole is to become climate-neutral by 2045.

By 2030, renewable energy sources should account for 80 percent of the electricity mix.

According to the Reuters news agency, the energy conversion in the Rhein-Hunsrück district has brought an additional advantage: the municipality should be debt-free and have financial reserves of 99 million euros.

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2022-07-26

You may like

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.