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1/ As a German energy analyst the coverage of my country's energy transition never seizes to amaze me. 140 characters won't do it, so
2/ My sense is: The German Energiewende gets a lot of international attention, but mostly for the wrong reasons.
3/ Judgment usually falls into one of two categories: Panic or leadership. A few examples.
4/ Admirers say that Germans lead, “world’s most ambitious plan” to power industrial economy with renewables e360.yale.edu/feature.
5/ .@TomFriedman even says Germany will be 'the new green super power' nytimes.com/2015/05/06/opi…...
6/ Others ask if Germany is insane or just stupid when 'foolishly shutting down its nuclear power plants' forbes.com/sites/ja...
7/ Critics claim the German Greens have 'chosen coal instead' marklynas.org/2014/11/nuclea…...
8/ They worry about Germany’s 'expensive gamble' on renewables undermining country's competitiveness wsj.com/articles/germa….
9/ They complain that 'Green energy mandates' [say what?!] drive up emissions and result in a 'coal binge' wsj.com/articles/g...
10/ Proving skeptics wrong reinforces their narrative, so let’s skip that.
12/ (And btw, here’s a couple of factors that explain the distorted international perception of the Energiewende https://energytransition. 
11/ Smart folks like @ppchef erneuerbareenergien.de/germany-provin… & @chrisnelder zdnet.com/article/myth-b… have already done some powerful myth-busting
13/ My point is: The Energiewende is neither a nuclear panic reaction, nor unique in its ambitions. The Germans aren't radical or crazy.
9/ They complain that 'Green energy mandates' [say what?!] drive up emissions and result in a 'coal binge' wsj.com/articles/germa…
14/ They have just made up their mind to go full scale renewables and remain an industrial powerhouse. book.energytransition.org...
15/ All German parties support the transition to renewables for its high investment certainty & falling costs. Take solar:
16/ German gov made it easy and affordable for citizens to go solar. Germany is not exactly sunny.
18/ And yet, by cutting red tape the Germans managed to drive down costs. Americans pay twice as much for solar ilsr.org/why-pay-...
19/ Here is thing. If an industrial powerhouse like Germany run on renewables, any country can.
20/ That is why the German story gets all the attention. But it’s only half the story
21/ The Energiewende is not only a technical transition from dirty to clean technologies.
22/ The Energiewende also a socio-economic transition from centralized, corporate to smaller, more distributed system
23/ What makes the Energiewende unique is that citizens, not big utilities, have been driving this transition.
24/ In 2012, citizens and energy cooperatives owned 47% of all renewables in Germany.
25/ Germany (and Denmark) may be only countries where the transition to renewables is democratizing the energy sector.
26/ Luckily, global investments in renewables are soaring. Renewables are winning the cost race. ren21.net/status-of-rene…...
27/ But one thing is also clear: w/o rules that allow citizens to take part in this rally, corporations will handle the transition for us...
28/ They represent the interests of shareholders & view people as consumers, not as citizens. They have conventional assets to protect.
29/ So a corporate-driven transition is not only less democratic, but also slower.
30/ Worried about climate change? Embrace energy democracy. It’s the fast track to deep decarbonisation.
31/ in a nutshell: the German case shows it is worth to fight for energy democracy EnergiewendeBook.de /fin
Late encore. We have elections coming up in Germany. Here is what's at stake for the #Energiewende: chinadialogue.net/article/show/s…
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