Germany’s unlikely champion of a radical green energy path

But Röttgen, the environmental minister, points out that mass deployment of renewable energy technology will drive down costs. "When more people consume oil and coal, the price will go up, but when more people consume renewable energy, the price of it will go down", he says. Röttgen argues that instead of sending billions of Euros to Russia and other sources of imported energy, Germany will now be able "to give that money to our green-tech engineers and local craftsmen." Still, keeping the cost of the transition low and stopping energy-intensive companies from relocating to Romania or China will be very difficult.

In addition to the challenge of huge costs, a complete overhaul of the energy infrastructure is necessary. It is not enough to install wind turbines and solar panels. A new grid is needed, as are ways to store green electricity. As wind and sunshine are highly variable, electricity will increasingly flow intermittently. Power will have to flow from offshore wind farms in the north of the country over many hundred kilometers to the industrial centers in the west and the south.

Experts estimate that more than 4,000 kilometers of new "eco-electricity highways" are necessary to connect renewable power plants to consumers and avoid power outages. Storing green electricity when the wind is blowing strongly or when there is ample sunlight is an unsolved challenge.

But even if all technological problems are solved, it is not easy to roll them out nationwide. Many Germans don't like the sight of wind turbines, which are called "asparagus." New hydro plants and some wind power installations face fierce opposition. So do those "eco-electricity highways," which still look like ordinary power lines to their neighbors. Local residents have yet to be convinced that they have to sacrifice undisturbed horizons for the greater good.

To the surprise of many, supplying an industrial nation with renewable energy also raises environmental concerns. The construction of offshore wind parks has been found to harm the ears of the harbor porpoise, a small whale species that is protected by law in Europe. Toxicologists are worried about dangerous level of cadmium, a heavy metal, in photovoltaic cells that might poison firefighters and create disposal problems in the future. And environmentalists are worried that the expansion of cornfields will dry out peaty soils, leading to greenhouse gas emissions, and be harmful for biological diversity. Germany would also have to rely more on natural gas, a fossil fuel, in the intermediate term if nuclear power will be phased out.

Despite the many problems and pitfalls, the chancellor's new course is already attracting admiration from abroad. William Reilly, the former administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said on a recent visit to Germany that he was impressed by Merkel's energy turn and the example it sets for the rest of the industrialized world. "It was breathtaking to see this huge change by a conservative government," he told me for a report in Der Spiegel magazine after meeting German politicians, NGOs, and business representatives.

The Japanese are certainly watching. While Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan on May 8 reiterated his support for nuclear power, officials in the Japanese embassy in Berlin already wonder aloud how their government will justify sticking with nuclear energy when a country like Germany is taking bold steps to thrive without.