Energy in Germany
Germany predominantly sources its energy from fossil fuels, followed by wind, nuclear, solar, biomass (wood and biofuels) and hydro. The German economy is large and developed, ranking fourth in the world by nominal GDP. Germany is seventh in global primary energy consumption as of 2020. As of 2021, German primary energy consumption amounted to 12,193 Petajoule, with more than 75% coming from fossil sources, 6.2% from nuclear energy and 16.1% from renewables. In 2021 Germany's electricity production reached 553.9 TWh, down from 631.4 TWh in 2013. Key to Germany's energy policies and politics is the "Energiewende", meaning "energy turnaround" or "energy transformation". The policy includes phasing out nuclear power by 2022, and progressive replacement of fossil fuels by renewables. The nuclear electricity production lost in Germany's phase-out was primarily replaced with coal electricity production and electricity importing. One study found that the nuclear phase-out caused $12 billion in social costs per year, primarily due to increases in mortality due to exposure to pollution from fossil fuels. Germany used to be highly dependent on Russian energy, it used to get more than half of the natural gas, a third of heating oil, and half of its coal imports from Russia. Due