Peter Altmaier, the German minister of environmental development, recently coined a new word at the U.N. climate summit: Energy-Wende. Energy-Wende is the shift toward renewable energy sources rather than nuclear power, a move the German government has undertaken since the nuclear meltdown in Fukushima, Japan, last year. They plan to supply at least 35% of Germany’s energy from renewable sources by the year 2020. Because renewable sources depend on the weather and are not necessarily generated where the energy need is greatest, a smart grid is necessary to efficiently transport the renewable energy and maintain the stability of the energy network.
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