5 billion in 12 months for the first time

The Germans did not wait Kyoto and climate change to the environment. Greens (Die Grünen) won its first seats in the Bundestag in 1983 and its parliamentary group was created as early as 1987. Internal divisions have since made back this movement but polls still give it 11 of the vote for the legislative elections of September 27. However, its outcome at the ballot box should not change much. Because German, all parties play the "green card". Just spend a few days in a family to see that the protection of the environment is in all minds. Each House has thus... 6 garbage. Paper, plastic, metal, organic material, glass, "traditional" non-recyclable waste... No home or almost only seeks to avoid this sort of selective and cumbersome. Circulating on the roads, the curious can also see how renewable energy sources have become an integral part of the landscape. In the valleys at the foot of the snowcapped Alpine peaks, the roofs of many farms are covered with solar panels. Stage Bayern of Munich, inaugurated in 2005, the Allianz Arena, is, powered by a huge wind turbine built on top of a hill across the highway. And in an out of town, a plant produces energy from organic waste which are fetched twice a month in each House. Some municipalities do not hesitate to test innovative solutions to save energy. The 8,500 people in Dörentrup in North Rhine-Westphalia can ignite themselves, through their mobile phone, the lighting of streets that are turned off every night at 21 hours.

Long, automotive was the single "cute sin" pollutant Germans. But here, too, local manufacturers are starting to make concessions. Step on the speed or the power of their models but on technical processes to limit emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) as this electronic box of BMW that cuts the engine at each stop on red. And more and more cities such as Berlin, Cologne, Munich, Hanover and Frankfurt were implemented "environmental areas" to limit air pollution due to fine particles. To enter these neighbourhoods, vehicles must carry a sticker indicating their emission of harmful substances. Soon, only the most recent models with a green sticker can circulate in the centre of these cities. Such a measure may seem restrictive, but it actually promotes the renewal of the fleet and helping local manufacturers.

280,000 employees

The protection of the environment has also become a huge "business" German. Last year, the number of German companies specialising in renewable energy have still increased by 10 to reach 280,000 employees. Their turnover has him crossed the Cape of the EUR 30 billion, an increase of 4.5 billion in 12 months for the first time. And EUR 9 billion are made to the export. Investment in new power plants for the production of "green" energy German jumped to only 20 in a year to reach 13 billion. The crisis has passed by. Q - Cells, the largest producer in the world of photovoltaic cells, had to revise slightly downward its forecasts for the current year. His table now on a turnover between 1.7 and 2.1 billion euros, against 1.75 to 2.25 billion previously. This slight decline has however nothing to worry about when we know that these new estimates still represent an increase of 35 to 70 of society against those of 2008 revenues that had already exploded by 46 in one year. The success of this company has even had an effect snowballed. In the State of Saxony-Anhalt, in the former GDR, where its head office, 21 producers of solar panels and research labs have settled in recent years. This development owes much to the political will of Governments which succeeded in Berlin.

47 of renewable energy

The first local law for renewable energy in effect dates back to... 1971 To encourage businesses to invest, the State has implemented a fee structure which guarantees to the producers of "green electricity" to receive for a period between five and twenty years a fixed price (per kilowatt hour in the wind is paid 8.03 cents for 8.92 EUR for the offshore and onshore facilities). The current "green" is also a priority of access to the national grid.

Our neighbour continues even today to be a precursor in this field. Angela Merkel would thus reduce here 2020 CO2 emissions of its country by 40 from their 1990 level. His Government particularly unblocked an envelope of EUR 15 billion to finance research projects in this sector from 2006 to 2009. The Chancellor also wants that the market share of renewable energy in the national electricity consumption is from 14.8 to 47 between 2008 and 2020. Another symbol, the Reichstag building in Berlin, became the last summer the first Parliament in the world to exclusively use generators to the biofuel, solar panels and wind turbines to heat, light, and is cool. Long, the Germany made only rider in the race to ecology. But today, green became a colour in fashion around the world.

A rain of grants

About 2.800 billion (EUR 2,000) in government programs already announced since the beginning of the global crisis, 430 billion will be spent on measures to protect the environment. Aid to encourage individuals to install solar panels to the financing of wind farms and biomass power plants through promotion of biogas projects... The grants will rain. "It is going to be an acceleration of investment in green technologies in the next two or three years," explained the "Financial Times", former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair. It is good for employment. "The Germany don't say otherwise. The Federal Ministry of the environment estimated that renewable energy companies could recruit 800,000 to 900,000 additional employees in the Federal Republic by 2030. "Techniques are there to allow the country to use only green energy, assures David Wortmann, Director of renewable energy in the public organization Germany Trade and Invest." Their costs are acceptable especially if compared to the huge loads that would result from a refusal of the Germany to reduce its CO2 emissions. Today, do need us more than a political and legal to go further. "The candidates at the next legislative are prevented.