Germans Have a Burning Need for More Garbage | Hacker News Reader

Germans Have a Burning Need for More Garbage

wsj.com

41 pointsprostoalex15 comments

This works because of Germany's high electric rates, $0.30/kWh in 2014. The waste to energy plants get about 500kWh/ton of garbage, or $150 of electrical energy. They can pay $50/ton and make a profit work out.

I'm curious, what makes the German electrical rate so high? Is it taxes guiding the market toward renewables and ecologically friendly sources? Perhaps a regulatory induced shortfall of production? Maybe a happy oligopoly?

Here's a char that shows what goes into electricity prices in Germany: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Strompreis-zusammensetzu...

25% is electricity generation, 23% is transmission and bookkeeping, 7% electricity tax, 16% sales tax, 21% EEG-Umlage (renewables reallocation charge), 6% concession levy, and <2% other taxes.

So if you add up all the taxes and levies, they make up half the cost (52%).

Ha! Char. I love it! =)

That's the price for private costumers, price for commercial users is lower and what producers get is even lower except in high demand times.

Funny, just saw this article today in the local newspaper:

http://www.all-in.de/nachrichten/rundschau/Ofen-platzt-aus-a...

It says that they may reduce ("up to 10%") the garbage fee.

Do they produce energy with it though?

"Müllheizkraftwerk", so - yes.

So in some localalities people pay to be able to hand off their trash to be converted to energy. Wonder if that's because of a difference in local businesses or in local recycling behavior.

This isn't really that uncommon, in the US at least.

I know Minneapolis has an incinerator that generates electricity. And you certainly pay to have your garbage picked up.

It's a win/win for everyone really. In theory. Energy generated should offset some of the costs involved in picking up the waste to begin with. Certainly not all though.

I remember reading an article a while back that Sweden was also importing.

Randomlyish chosen relevant link

https://sweden.se/nature/the-swedish-recycling-revolution/

Trenton makes, the world takes.

Who or what is Trenton in this context?

The Capitol of NJ. That's the city's motto.

Right, but how is Trenton relevant to the story depicted in the article? (I live in Princeton so definitely curious about this)

Question, how much NO does that produce?

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