As everyone is praising Germany with good weather and temporarily increased use of renewables, the same people rarely notice that France *also* has renewable and combined with nuclear their energy sectors is extremely low-carbon (30 gCO2eq/kWh) - Germany never goes below 150.
@kravietz
such calculation often omit the externalized costs of nuclear energy. A study by the French government concluded that a Fukushima style disaster would cost them €430bn, which is more than plant operators and insurance companies can pay, meaning the state will have to cover it.
https://fr.reuters.com/article/topNews/idFRPAE91601Q20130207
The ecological/social/health impacts of uranium mining and the somewhat unsolved problem of waste disposal have to be considered as well.
http://www.afrol.com/articles/36725
Regarding mining, you are certainly aware that any modern renewable energy technology (solar panels, wind turbines, batteries) requires vast amounts of rare earth metals which are... mined. And since they co-exist with radioactive elements such as uranium, thorium, radium, they result in radioactive mining waste too.
@kravietz solar panels are made of silicon, the second most common element in the earth's crust.
As for rare earths, it's not like we wouldn't need them if we built more nuclear plants instead.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare-earth_element#Uses
But since we're now most concerned with CO2 emissions, it makes sense to compare the energy sector emissions of various countries. Germany for example is boasting all the time about #Energiewende yet it emits on average 5x more CO2 than France... yet it's bullying France to abandon #nuclear
@kravietz i'm not saying that our (germany's) government doing a particulary great job at the energiewende (cutting subsidies for renewables while creating monetary incentives for buying new cars).
German government is only making one mistake which is bowing to the blackmail of Greens, who are ideologically biased, anti-scientific and completely clueless about engineering. As result they are hurting the environment and climate to the same extent as climate deniers. This applies just as well to nuclear power, which is the only zero-emission *and* stable energy source available today, and to genetic engineering, which reduces land usage *and* herbicide usage.
They have enough power to lobby against and kill any project that is not compliant with their worldview.
This is precisely why the policy of German government is so inconsistent. The country needs 24/7 power. But they have to shut down they only zero-emissions *and* stable power source and aren't allowed to build new ones.
So they invest in fossil gas and coal, which are at least reluctantly accepted by the Greens.
@kravietz while i agree that the issues you mentioned exist in the green party to some degree, it's worth mentioning that they are neither currently in power, nor ok with the government's overall policies on the matter.