Curry, A. (2022, May 6). How the Ukraine War is accelerating Germany’s Renewable Energy Transition. Environment. Retrieved July 3, 2022, from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/how-the-ukraine-war-is-accelerating-germanys-renewable-energy-transition 

Due to Russia and Ukraines war, gas prices have shot up around the globe, and international dependency on Russia’s oil has become incredibly relevant. Many countries have put sanctions on oil causing major supply chain issues and being the driving force in gas prices becoming unbelievably high. One country this hit very hard is Germany, who gets more than half its natural gas and a third of its crude oil from Russia, funding Russia at a rate of 200 million dollars a day.

The major effect of this development is an emphasis on Germany’s plan to become fully  energy renewable in thirty years, following a global trend of focusing on energy sources such as solar and wind power. But Germany’s energy dependency on Russia also meant the shutting down of preivously vital nuclear power plants, and a move towards renewables. Now, theyare forced to continue buying some oil from the Russians while simultaneously looking for new suppliers and pushing for a move to renewables. The good news is that price to install solar panels and wind turbines is only going down while gas prices skyrocket, but another decision is to come. As the EU considers a full shutoff of Russian gas, fall and winter are on the horizon and could mean the people of these countries have to make major sacrifices in their energy usage to support this political move. It will likely be difficult for Europeans to continue fighting this battle once they have to choose between it and a warm house in the freezing cold. In my opinion, these countries will have to continue to rely on Russian oil to some degree, with major public pushback becoming a motivator. My topic and environmental science are involved because solar and wind power provide an important alternative to reliance on fossil fuels, and the weather and seasons have become a critical part of the equation. I feel good about the fact that they are an option, and hopefully become the only thing being used, but this rushing to renewables because of a political freezeoff is concerning, and depending on renewables can also become a problem.