Life for humans is deeply related to environmental issues on earth.
Today, a lot of convenient things exist e.g. transportation, smartphone.
To eat rice needs rice and rice cooker.
We use a washing machine to wash clothes.
A computer is mandatory to work.
Just living a normal day needs electricity.
It is hard to imagine living without electricity anymore.
Electricity is essential.
So, I checked how humans produce energy.
Here is the ratio of energy in Japan and Germany.
Energy in Germany
Renewable energy 44.4% *Detail of renewable energy
Onshore wind power 18.7
Solar power 8.9%
Biomass power 7.7% *Biomass is plant or animal material used as fuel to produce electricity or heat
Offshore wind power 4.8
Hydroelectric power 3.3%
Waste power 1.0%
Brown coal power 16.0%
Natural gas-fired power 16.0%
Nuclear power 11.2%
Coal power 7.4%
Petroleum product power 0.7%
Others 4.3%
*The data is from “Arbeitsgemeinschaft Energiebilanzen e.V ”Stromerzeugung nach Energieträgern 1990 – 2020″ (Stand Dezember 2019)”
Energy in Japan
Renewable energy 20.8% *Detail of renewable energy
Solar power 8.5%
Hydraulic power 7.9%
Biomass power 3.2%
Wind power 0.9%
Geothermal power 0.3%
LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) 35.4%
Coal power 27.6%
Thermal power (except LNG) 9.9%
Nuclear power 4.3%
Oil power 2.0%
*The data is from Power survey statistics of Agency for Natural Resources and Energy of Japan 2020
In Japan, renewable energy is 20.8%.
In Germany, renewable energy is 44.4%.
Germany makes more than double the amount of renewable energy than Japan.
About wind power
Germany is known as one of the most environmentally advanced countries.
In Brandenburg, Germany, I have seen a lot of onshore wind power plants.
I have seen onshore wind power plants only once in Japan but I have seen often solar power system on the roof or ground in Japan.
The market price of wind power generators is about 2000-3000 euros per kW.
To build a medium-sized 500kW costs about 1-1.5 million euros.
German people have a high awareness of environmental issues
Japan and Germany are both advanced countries.
In general, I think people in Germany care about environmental issues more than people in Japan.
Those topics are open in Germany and easy to be involved to environmental related.
There are many reasonable organic, bio and vegan products in Germany compared to Japan.
I think that many people in Germany are interested in ecology, environment, global warming, bio or organic products.
German citizens who are not only politicians have a high awareness of environmental issues.
To turn off the light or tap water when you don’t need to.
That is important and everyone can do it.
Sometimes, I hear those kind of advices from German people.
I remember that my grandmother has told me sometimes to turn the light off when it is not necessary or the room is already bright in daytime.
The reason she told me was to avoid using unnecessary costs.
It sounded like that.
But when my German boyfriend told me not waste water when I was washing dishes, he mentioned environmental things.
Here is one other example of why I feel many people in Germany care about environmental issues.
The Japanese government discussed letting the water with radiation from Fukushima nuclear plants go into the ocean.
I was asked what I thought about that incident by my boyfriend’s brother-in-law in Germany.
It sounds negative incident but the water would be okay amount of radiation before putting into the ocean.
People in Japan are not happy about letting the water into the ocean, I guess.
Even fish or vegetables made in around Fukushima are checked the level of radiation, sadly many people don’t want to buy them.
That’s the fact.
People in Germany can naturally talk about those kind of environmental topics.
In my opinion, German people talk about environmental issues more often than Japanese people in Japan.
Next generation’s task SDGs
Germany has announced that they will stop all nuclear power plants in 2022.
The information was told to me by my friend’s son who is 8 years old living in Japan in 2019.
I was surprised that I heard it from him.
When I was an elementary school student, I learned about environmental issues but those are getting serious more and more these days.
The younger generation has to think about environmental problems and find a solution because global warming causes some problems.
According to my friend living in Japan, elementary school students in Japan learn about SDGs.
She told me that her son has to write about SDGs for summer vacation homework.
It is a shame but I didn’t even know what SDGs are.
SDGs means the Sustainable Development Goals.
There are a lot of environmental issues because of human activity e.g. as below.
1.Global warming
2.Pollution
3.Waste disposal
4.Loss of biodiversity
5.Acid rain
6.Deforestation
7.Ozone layer depletion
8.Ocean acidification
9.Desertify
Nature and technology development are both important but humans cannot live without nature.
To produce renewable energy would be a one of a helpful action for keep nature.
I keep in my mind not to waste water and electricity, additionally separating rubbish for recycling and donating my old clothes.
Since I came to Germany, I have been thinking more than ever that I should do what I can, at least to protect nature.