Whenever power in Germany comes up, I have a hard time interpreting anything because of the reaction the HN crowd has against the Germany's resistance to Nuclear.
But from what I can tell, they're doing a pretty good job reducing their usage of fossil fuel? Can someone clarify.
Yes, power is more expensive in Germany. Yes they have periods where they don't produce all the power they consume, yes the import nuclear power. But for their goals of reducing fossil fuel consumption and not building nuclear power plants they seem to be doing well?
It comes up frequently, but the price of electricity in Germany is not high in reality, mostly because traditionally the costs have been covered by the actual bills paid. The exception now is the renewables surcharge which will in the future be covered by taxes. The surcharge fills the fund for cases where the guaranteed price for renewables is higher than the market price. But even this used to be on the bill. There are hundreds of companies that sell electricity and it has a market economy there.
On the other hand France as the complete opposite example, it has a nationalized electricity company because it can't survive otherwise. They lobbied hard (successfully) for rule changes in the EU so they are able to fund their nuclear plants through government subsides. We are talking hundreds of billions for their plans to keep old plants alive and build new ones. This will not be on the bill, so the prices are not a realistic comparison.
But even with all that, the price in France is 24c as far as I know. In Germany you can get it for as low as 19c per kwh [1], but you only get a two month price guarantee and can get hit if the market prices spike again. Your choice.
This is a great point but has me realizing I don't know how to square this with the idea that quite a few people are making enormous profits from unprofitable businesses.
It feels like there should be a way to tax these startups that exist as vehicles for cash grabs, but are not profitable.
Do you have examples of people making enormous profits you are thinking of?
If you literally mean people (as in employees, executives, ect), they already are being taxed on income.
Unprofitable businesses always have expenses for labor, materials, ect. The distinction is that the company and owners arent making money, so they dont pay taxes. Those that do make money naturally do pay taxes.
There are a handful of solutions to the problem of the lights being on while in bed, but wanting them to be off. One way is to turn off the lights before entering the bed. Another way is to get out of the bed and turn off the lights and then return to the bed.
Another popular solution is to place a lamp near the bed, such that the light controlled by the wall switch can be turned off before entering the bed and the lamp nearer the bed can be turned off while in bed.
I would take their data with a grain of salt. It's basically a viral marketing site for filter manufacturers and they're biased toward showing scary numbers. My city has two water sources depending on where you're located and they don't break down the figures to that level of detail but the county water quality report does.
"since Oct. 15, 2009, no company is allowed to manufacture, distribute, ship or sell any products that leach arsenic in concentrations greater than 5 parts per billion (ppb)" [1]
And bacteria growth is solved by following the manufacturer's directions. For example, Brita filters in use need to be kept in the fridge and changed every 2 or 3 months.
I assume this is true for 1) filters that are NSF certified and 2) wish to not display a prop 65 warning.
A majority of the water filters purchased on Amazon are not NSF certified and ship with a prop 65 warning. In fact, it's difficult to purchase water filter components that do not have a prop 65 warning.
But from what I can tell, they're doing a pretty good job reducing their usage of fossil fuel? Can someone clarify.
Yes, power is more expensive in Germany. Yes they have periods where they don't produce all the power they consume, yes the import nuclear power. But for their goals of reducing fossil fuel consumption and not building nuclear power plants they seem to be doing well?