In Germany's second largest city Hamburg, people are 13 times more likely to die from heat-related causes than in the US, even though geographically it is located north of the continental US border. The main reason is limited use of AC, which the state government now wants to regulate even more strictly. It's a story of regulatory capture and the hangover of a renewable energy policy focused on saving energy, rather than producing it more cheaply. There has been plenty of talk about the age of energy abundance and it's a nice story that illustrates it
Despite clean energy abundance, Hamburg wants to regulate AC
byu/vauss inenergy
by vauss
4 comments
There’s no clean energy abundance yet. And particularly not in Hamburg where solar irradiance is quite low.
It can be debated if it makes sense to install ACs in places that only need them a few days a year. It might be sensible to target them to places where the elderly live, since deaths are the main (and probably the only) concern. I think Germany has been pushing a lot for renewable energies. I don’t think Hamburg itself can do a lot, again considering that the solar potential is relatively low and it makes a lot more sense to install panels in the south of Germany. Current abundance in the north is related to wind power, which tends to decrease in the summer months.
Seems like mini-split heat pumps would be good for this, especially for heating season
>It’s a story of regulatory capture and the hangover of a renewable energy policy focused on saving energy, rather than producing it more cheaply.
No, German policy focuses on saving electricity, not energy. Electricity is overtaxed and basically everyone uses gas heating for that reason.
>Geographically, Germany’s second largest city Hamburg is north of the border of the continental US. So you would think heat is not that big of an issue. But **Hamburg’s citizens are 13 times more likely to die from the effects of heat** than people in the US: […]. Why is that?
Most likely this is because the Hamburg statistic is “heat related deaths” and the US statistic is “deaths caused by heat”. The rules for classification are different, so the numbers are different and you cannot compare them.