Experts estimate: Corona reduces energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions

Experts estimate
Corona reduces energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions

The Corona-collapse of the economy is the energy consumption in Germany this year is expected to be nearly 7 percent decline.

This was the result of a published estimate of the working group on energy balances. Because at the same time, renewable energy use have continued to increase, could decrease the energy-related carbon dioxide emissions in 2020 by 10 per cent. The history of the Corona should force a pandemic, other measures, was to be expected with a stronger decrease in energy consumption and CO2 emissions.

The Federal environment Agency (UBA) had already anticipated at the beginning of the pandemic in a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions. “We are experiencing a reduction in emissions due to Corona” had UBA-President Dirk Messner said in March. However, this had no structural effects, which solved the Problem permanently. In the past year, the O2 emissions were decreased according to initial calculations by 6.3 percent, mainly because less electricity was produced from coal and more of Gas, Wind and sun.

The working group on energy balances based their estimate on the Figures for the first nine months of this year. Thereafter, the entire energy consumption in Germany amounted to 8.7 percent below the prior-year period. Particularly strong is the decline in the coal was. The coal after three quarters was up 25.7 percent year-on-year, in the case of the brown coal, the Minus amounted to 27 per cent. The consumption of oil decreased by 8.7 percent. Renewable energies increased their contribution to total energy consumption by a total of 3 percent.