Interview with Volker Quaschning: Why you should start with your cat instead of railing against wind energy

Strong images are needed to dispel the myths surrounding the energy transition. Prof. Volker Quaschning is one of those who provides arguments that are just as important as these. We spoke to the well-known advocate for renewables about the upcoming federal government, infrasound - and cats.

Utopia: Mr. Quaschning, what does the next federal government have to do differently in order to master the energy transition and somehow still be able to achieve the 1.5 degree target?

Volker Quaschning: For that we would have to become climate neutral in the 2030s. With the current pace of the energy transition, however, we would need 100 years for this. We basically need a complete reboot. Both in the energy transition and in climate protection policy. A government that leaves no stone unturned.

This is not activism, but is constitutionally stipulated in Germany. According to the judgment of the constitutional court, we have to comply with the Paris climate protection agreement. The parties have no choice but to implement appropriate measures.

Utopia: The Greens and the FDP will probably co-govern. With this constellation, the question comes to a head, to what extent do we have to limit ourselves for climate protection?

Volker Quaschning: As with Corona, the disruptive changes will certainly restrict one or the other freedom through a rule. But I would rather say that the changes improve life in some areas. It's always a question of perspective. One may find fewer cars bad and the other says "so nice I have no noise and no more dirt in the city."

We can now transform Germany into a country where we have sustainable jobs. We can see that Germany maintains its prosperity. We can see that cities become more livable. Let's see it as an opportunity, as a start into a new, better world! We have to convey that in order to break down all the resistance. If you think you can somehow stand still for ten years, the changes will be all the more radical. Not only the younger generations will suffer the consequences of climate change. Everything is now happening so quickly that the well-represented generation over 50 in Germany will also feel the consequences. Utopia: How do we have to change our energy policy in order to comply with the Paris climate protection agreement? Volker Quaschning: To do this, we have to become climate-neutral in the 2030s, which would mean increasing the current energy expansion by about six times. We now have about 20 percent renewable energies. By increasing the expansion sixfold, we would end up at around 100 percent in 15 years. If we don't manage that, we can say goodbye to Germany's contribution to the Paris climate protection agreement. You have to say it so bluntly.

Utopia: 100 percent green electricity sounds like a threat to some people, because critics are stoking fears of the big blackout ...

Volker Quaschning: The sun doesn't shine at night, so we don't have solar power. If we have little wind, we have no wind energy. If it's quite windy on a sunny day, we have way too much power. This is the main starting point for critics and the warning that everything will collapse. But actually we already have the solution.Utopia: We're excited!Volker Quaschning: We need significantly more memory and above all a combination of technologies. The first point of contact should be that we bridge the short-term, i. H. a few hours or sometimes a night, for example the day-night cycle of the sun. Battery storage, such as the large batteries in e-cars, are well suited for this. We're talking specifically about sector coupling. You don't just use storage as a storage per se, but we can also use the storage capacity of cars or heat applications and thus also significantly reduce storage requirements. If we really don't have enough electricity for two to three weeks, then we talk about so-called power-to-gas technology. This allows excess electricity z. B. Convert to hydrogen by electrolysis in summer. In the second stage, this is further processed into methane, which is practically natural gas as you know it, which I can then temporarily store. The current storage facilities that we have are so large that we could buffer gas for three to four months. So if we no longer buy Mr. Putin's gas, then we can use these storage tanks and fill in our regenerative gas and get it out again when we need it. The whole thing works and is technically mature. You just have to build it now. Utopia: You said that the expansion of renewable energies should be increased sixfold. How can this work? Where does all the specialist staff come from to make such a development possible? Volker Quaschning: We know that jobs will be lost in the coal and automotive industries. It is estimated that over 100,000 jobs are threatened. On the other hand, we know that we need easily 500,000, maybe even 1,000,000 additional workers to be able to implement the energy transition at this rate. This transformation has to succeed, otherwise we really have a problem with climate protection. We would not be able to become climate neutral in time due to a shortage of workers. That's really my biggest concern right now. The order books for solar energy are already full. If I want to build a photovoltaic system now, I usually have to wait a few months to get one. Renewable energies are not a job killer, but a job engine.

Sick from infrasound? Complete nonsense

Utopia: There are even more myths and prejudices about wind power and its dangers. If you enter the right keywords into Google, you will get the right answers. The first thing we encountered was noise emissions. More precisely, infrasound. What is that? Volker Quaschning: Infrasound is something that people are not really familiar with. That's why you think it's something dangerous. There is a range of frequencies of sound that the human ear can perceive, and while ultrasound is well above this range, with infrasound we are dealing with particularly low-pitched sounds. If something rotates very slowly, such as a wind turbine, then sound waves with low frequencies – below the threshold of hearing – can arise. Extreme conclusions are drawn from this and people claim that you miscarry or get sick. Utopia: And what about the specter of infrasound? Volker Quaschning: Of course, you can get sick from sound. The same goes for audible sound: if I'm standing next to a jet plane and I'm not wearing earmuffs, then I have a problem. Of course, the decisive factor is how “loud” the sound is. Infrasound from wind turbines is so low that at a distance of 300-400 meters it can no longer be distinguished from natural infrasound, which is caused by simple leaf movement and wind noise. If you now realize that the infra-sound in a car is significantly greater, the myth of the wind turbine making people ill is completely dispelled. I could stand in front of a wind turbine for five to ten years and experience the same noise exposure as a three-hour car drive. Therefore, from a scientific point of view, this is complete nonsense. Utopia: Why can wind turbines in some federal states only be built far away from populated areas, while coal-fired power plants only have to be 700 meters away? Volker Quaschning: Even nuclear power plants. (laughing) It's just the difference in perception. The distance rules for wind turbines, which have been introduced in Bavaria or in some federal states, are not tied to scientific facts. The point here is simply not to lose any groups of voters to the AfD. Because since the AfD completely rejects climate protection, in their eyes we don't need any wind turbines. In this way, the party naturally tries to collect all people who consistently reject wind turbines or have prejudices against wind turbines. And the best thing the bourgeois parties can think of is courting this section of the population. They then reinforce their statements by saying, "Look, we don't like wind turbines either! We are introducing large distance regulations!” This is of course fatal, because if you calculate our climate neutrality goals with the distance rules, we can no longer build enough wind turbines in Germany to become climate neutral. I would be in favor of all those who want to boycott the construction of new wind turbines taking part in the construction of flood dikes. Just shovel sand for two weeks so that you can experience for yourself what you can do with it. Because these effects are the consequence of preventing wind turbines.

Of bird shredding machines and cats

Utopia: In 2017 you wrote an article in the magazine Agrarheute that ended with the sentence: "Car-driving opponents of wind power with house cats should first get rid of their pollutant slingshots scrap it, buy a house by a lignite mine, and shoot their cat before they keep fighting the wind power!” What's that all about? Volker Quaschning: Anyone who has ever dealt with wind power knows the argument that wind power plants are bird shredding machines. So it is then suggested that wind turbines kill a disproportionate number of birds. In reality, one wind turbine can be expected to kill maybe 10 birds a year. That's the same dimension as a cat kills on average. Ironically, it is also cat lovers who prophesy the great death of birds in the citizens' initiative. Utopia: What does it actually look like there? Volker Quaschning: Now, of course, one mustn't forget that there are many times more cats than wind turbines in Germany. So we're talking about tens of millions of bird deaths from cats on the one hand, but maybe over 100,000 bird deaths from wind turbines on the other. I therefore consider the proportions of this discussion to be disproportionate. But the scope only becomes clear when we take this to the extreme. There are cases where species conservation has led to a rejection of a wind farm because a breeding pair of a rare species was discovered, such as B. the red kite. But that's fatal, because every wind turbine that we don't build fuels the climate crisis, and we already know today that the majority of these rare bird species will become extinct as a result of global warming. But instead of using this as an argument FOR the expansion of regenerative energies, the situation is shortened and brought up by the other side.

The Professor for Regenerative Energy Systems Volker Quaschning is currently one of the most sought-after and well-known voices in the German media on the subject of climate protection and the energy transition. Known as a co-initiator of Scientists for Future, the Leonberger native now runs his own YouTube channel, hosts a podcast with his wife Cornelia and is one of the opinion leaders on climate policy content on Twitter - he also publishes specialist books and he also teaches students .

Read more at Utopia.de

Like this post?

Keywords: Energiewende Interview Interviews Video Windkraft