Germany Debates Fracking -- Energy Costs Accelerating; Merkel's "Energy Revolution" -- Back To Coal

Yesterday it was noted that Great Britain has approved fracking in light of decreasing oil output and increasing energy costs.

Now, Germany. Rigzone is reporting:

In the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011, Chancellor Angela Merkel abruptly declared that Germany would abandon nuclear power and transition to renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. As the use of nuclear power declines, Germany is filling the gap with a combination of renewable energy and coal-fired plants.
Yet Ms. Merkel's "energy revolution," as the shift away from nuclear has been dubbed, is having unexpected side effects.

Subsidies for renewable-energy producers that are financed in part through household electricity bills are causing electricity prices for ordinary consumers and industry to rise. Germany's biggest industrial power consumers have seen electricity prices per kilowatt hour rise nearly 40% in the past five years ... Electricity prices for industry are nearly 15% higher than the average in the 27-nation European Union, IW said.

He added that data show that energy-intensive industries are already beginning to curtail investment in Germany because of higher electricity charges.

And it gets worse --

• CO2 emissions are rising

Long a leader in cutting CO2 emissions, Germany's emissions rose 1.6% last year, according to the Environment Ministry, the first rise in years. [Emissions in the US have declined; Germany signed the Kyoto Protocol, after France, and before Greece; the US did not sign the protocol.]

And then this:

So far, Ms. Merkel has sided with her wary public, expressing doubts about the viability of fracking in Germany and pledging to allow it only if it can be proven entirely safe. Ms. Merkel is trying to please the broader public, which surveys show is frightened by fracking, while not alienating industry, which is lobbying the government to do something about Germany's soaring energy costs.

"...entirely safe." -- wow.

In 2020, Germany will shut down about six nuclear power stations and many of the country's coal-fired power plants will also shut down due to age. -- another "wow."