Energy consumption not decoupled from economic growth - opinion

For the third year in a row, rising primary energy consumption shows that Germany has not succeeded in decoupling economic growth from its energy use, writes Klaus Stratmann in an opinion piece in the Handelsblatt. “The development proves that the billion euro efforts to increase energy efficiency remain without the desired effect," writes Stratmann. Recent data published by AG Energiebilanzen also showed that the share of renewables in primary energy consumption rose only slowly, and that it was a “hallucination” to see the rising renewables share in electricity production as “proof of Germany’s role model path into a climate-friendly future”, writes Stratmann.

Read the article (behind paywall) in German here.

For background, read the CLEW factsheet Germany’s energy consumption and power mix in charts.