The reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, in particular CO2, is a major objective of the German energiewende. There has been broad consensus on this goal for many years now - in contrast to the continuing discussion over the proposed shutdown of Germany’s nuclear power plants. The...

At least since the 1980 study on the energiewende by Krause et al. (Energie-Wende: Wachstum und Wohlstand ohne Erdöl und Uran. Frankfurt am Main: S. Fischer), renewable energies have been considered a viable alternative to conventional fossil fuels, and renewable energy technologies were seen...

The European Union has embarked on the transformation of its energy and electricity system to low-carbon energy sources, just like Germany and many other countries. This chapter analyzes the European strategy for low-carbon transformation in relation to specific aspects and features of the...

Long-term scenarios of the low-carbon energy transformation in Europe are quite diverse. In this chapter, we provide a detailed discussion of scenarios leading to a far-reaching decarbonization of the European energy system to 2050. We use an updated version of the Global Energy System Model...