How the Energy Revolution Came to Germany

Robert Kunzig at National Geographic has an interesting article tracing the evolution of Germany's "energiewende" or energy revolution. Kunzig looks at cultural and historical factors that may have made Germans more receptive to an undertaking like the energiewende.

The German revolution has come from the grass roots: Individual citizens and energy genossenschaften—local citizens associations—have made half the investment in renewables. ... German politicians sometimes compare the energiewende to the Apollo moon landing. But that feat took less than a decade, and most Americans just watched it on TV. The energiewende will take much longer and will involve every single German—more than 1.5 million of them, nearly 2 percent of the population, are selling electricity to the grid right now.

Link: Germany Could Be a Model for How We’ll Get Power in the Future