<story><title>Germany closes its last hard-coal mine</title><url>https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-30/germany-closes-last-coal-mine-despite-decades-of-supplies-needed</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>petermcneeley</author><text>From the article: &amp;quot;Wind, solar and other renewable sources, which account for 55 percent of German electricity capacity, are even more subsidized than coal mining, adding about 25 billion euros to power bills last year.&amp;quot;</text></item><item><author>blattimwind</author><text>German coal has been &lt;i&gt;heavily&lt;/i&gt; subsidized for more than half a century. No one really knows how much money exactly went in there, but it&amp;#x27;s assumed something like 200-350 billion euros (&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.foes.de&amp;#x2F;pdf&amp;#x2F;Kohlesubventionen_1950_2008.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.foes.de&amp;#x2F;pdf&amp;#x2F;Kohlesubventionen_1950_2008.pdf&lt;/a&gt;).</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>pgeorgi</author><text>The difference is that the subsidies for renewables had the purpose of propping up reshaping the power supply system, are time limited (20 years of life time, rates are locked in when the system is brought up, rates were falling over time) and decentralized (put up a panel on your roof that&amp;#x27;s connected to the power grid, you&amp;#x27;re eligible).&lt;p&gt;In contrast, the coal subsidies propped up a well-established industry with few players, with no end in sight and little oversight (as stated upthread: &amp;quot;No one really knows how much money exactly went in there&amp;quot;).</text></comment>
<story><title>Germany closes its last hard-coal mine</title><url>https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-30/germany-closes-last-coal-mine-despite-decades-of-supplies-needed</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>petermcneeley</author><text>From the article: &amp;quot;Wind, solar and other renewable sources, which account for 55 percent of German electricity capacity, are even more subsidized than coal mining, adding about 25 billion euros to power bills last year.&amp;quot;</text></item><item><author>blattimwind</author><text>German coal has been &lt;i&gt;heavily&lt;/i&gt; subsidized for more than half a century. No one really knows how much money exactly went in there, but it&amp;#x27;s assumed something like 200-350 billion euros (&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.foes.de&amp;#x2F;pdf&amp;#x2F;Kohlesubventionen_1950_2008.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.foes.de&amp;#x2F;pdf&amp;#x2F;Kohlesubventionen_1950_2008.pdf&lt;/a&gt;).</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jabiko</author><text>It makes sense to promote renewable energies, as this makes sense both from a social and environmental point of view.&lt;p&gt;Keeping coal mining on life support makes no sense. In the Ruhr area, the consequences of coal mining will still be felt for a very long time. It is necessary to run pumps for centuries to come so that the toxic mine water does not reach the groundwater level.</text></comment>