The federal government has quite rightly activated early warning level 1 of the Gas Emergency Ordinance. The weather is getting warmer, spring is in sight, and the high dependence on natural gas may not seem so dangerous at first glance.
After all, we use almost half of the natural gas for heating and hot water – and the sun also provides heat in the summer. But we should not be fooled, the next winter will definitely come.
Then gas can be very scarce. Until recently, 55 percent of our natural gas came from Russia. With effort, we can reduce this dependency by 20 percentage points in the short term thanks to new contracts with other exporting countries.
There remains a gap of 35 percent, which corresponds to the entire consumption of German industry. For example, it produces fertilizers that help ensure our food security, or materials for exactly the wind turbines that we need to become independent of Putin.
Widespread shutdowns can trigger cascading effects across the economy. We have known what effects even minor interruptions in supply chains can have since the corona pandemic at the latest.
Now we still have time to act. The supply situation is guaranteed over the summer even without Russian gas – a filling up of the gas storage facilities is not.
If we don’t save now, convert, build renewables, adjust heating more efficiently and insulate homes, then we’ll have a very bad hand in autumn. Every megawatt hour that we save now stays in storage for the coming winter.
We can save the most gas when heating
Every cubic meter that we don’t burn now is available to us when the need can be great. We don’t have a storage problem, we have a quantity problem.
That’s why it also helps to use crude oil sparingly. Because some processes in industry and heat supply can be temporarily switched to oil.
We can do this. We are a very strong country. Now we have to tackle this together and rise to the challenge. Just like with Corona, this means that we are doing things that we would not have dreamed of until recently.
Back then, our society accepted and carried the burden and broke the first corona waves with considerable restrictions, when there were no vaccines and medicines.
Of course we all fervently hoped that the times of crisis would be behind us for the time being, but we must now also be prepared to act decisively for our energy security and peace.
Much has already been achieved in terms of diversifying the sources of supply. But we also have to become less dependent on fossil fuels overall and, to do this, make great progress in the very short term.
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The federal and state governments should allow for expedited approvals of relevant infrastructure such as renewable energy, power lines, heat lines.
In addition, they can guarantee state default risk protection for the early ordering of renewable energy systems or power lines in the event of approval risks and thus promote the expansion of a sustainable energy infrastructure.
The greatest lever for saving large amounts of gas in the short term is in the heat supply. Here the state can provide public support for the financing of particularly important projects such as the renovation of the poorly insulated buildings or seasonal heat storage, as well as set up a Sprinter program for serial renovation.
In addition, the use of scarce skilled workers would have to be focused on the most important projects, such as building insulation and heating optimization.
In addition to promoting energy efficiency, it is important to reduce gas consumption. Therefore, we could make it mandatory by law to lower the minimum temperature in offices and allow it in living spaces. There is also a need for digital thermostats in public buildings. We could also make these available from public procurement for privately used buildings.
We should talk about 100 km/h and driving bans on Sundays
These programs should be accompanied by a wide-ranging information campaign on energy-saving heating and ventilation. In this way, we provide citizens with the necessary information on energy-saving heating.
Efforts are also required in the transport sector and are already being eagerly discussed. We should seriously talk about a limited speed limit of 100 km/h on the Autobahn.
In addition, we should examine Sunday driving bans, at least until dependence on oil imports from Russia is ended and it is also ensured that production processes that can be switched from gas to oil in the short to medium term can be supplied with sufficient oil.
We should all do our part now, change habits and accept temporary hardship. Adjusting one’s behavior now is not only a nice contribution, it is a necessary condition for maintaining our society as we know it.
Leave the car in solidarity with those who cannot drive less without giving up their jobs. That leaves more of the scarce oil for those who really need it.
As soon as we make progress with the technical measures for renewable energies and efficiency, we can again afford more luxuries such as energy-intensive leisure activities. This shows another aspect of the necessary measures: It is primarily the people in our society with higher incomes who need to change their habits.
Those with really little money in their pockets have not been able to afford to buy a lot of Russian natural gas up to now, and have mostly been forced to heat as little as possible, despite often poorly insulated apartments.
Lack of energy hits the poorest hardest. However, most of the energy is consumed by people with higher incomes. And here is the need for action. Let’s work together to ensure that we remain an industrial nation and a highly prosperous country.
The authors: Dieter Janecek is spokesman for economic policy for the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen parliamentary group in the Bundestag. Ingrid Nestlé is spokeswoman for climate protection and energy for the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen parliamentary group in the Bundestag.
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