Protests erupt in Germany over green energy

Experts are predicting that if Germany’s energiewende – a massive, nation-wide push towards green energy – is successful, it will increase the price of electricity by nearly 20%. This has German citizens in an uproar, seeing as they already pay the highest energy premiums in the European Union. Protests have erupted across the country, raising the question:

How much is too much to pay for electricity?

Last year, Germany spent approximately $26 billion on renewable energy – a remarkably high number compared to the cost of generating electricity via fossil fuels and nuclear power.

Spiegel, one of Germany’s most circulated newspapers, has called energiewende an “aggressive and reckless expansion of wind and solar power.”

Following Japan’s nuclear power plant meltdown back in 2010, German policy-makers agreed to begin transitioning away from nuclear power. However, people are now realizing that their politicians idealistic promises come with a few strings attached. (Ok, maybe more than a few.)

Even the most scrupulous consumer is having difficulty following all the levies and surcharges hidden in the fine print at the bottom of their utility bills. According to some experts, the cost of running the nation’s power grid is going to spike by $0.2 per kWh in 2014.

“The political backlash [over energiewende] has now moved from the fringes to the mainstream, with even the German media calling for an end to the green lunacy,” claims Walter Russell Mead, Professor of Foreign Affairs at Bard College. “The costs of uncompetitive technologies have to be paid by someone. In Germany, these costs fall disproportionately on the poor.”

By the end of the decade, Germany hopes to bolster wind-generated electricity from 31,000 to 45,000 MW. What will consumers be paying then?

Yes, change can be difficult. But it shouldn’t strangle families financially.

The fundamental flaw in this whole situation is the population’s dependence upon a government-controlled resource. Energy shouldn’t be treated as a commodity. It should be treated as a tool. A basic human necessity. Like shelter, food and water – in the digital age, perhaps having access to electricity is the only way to survive. Perhaps it’s the only way to learn. To view the world objectively. To stay politically active and informed.

NRGLab is empowering people around the world with breakthroughs like the SH-Box, a portable, carbon-free generator that harnesses geothermal energy and converts it into useable electricity – for as little as one-third of today’s market cost! That’s $0.03 per kWh!

So, people of Germany, we beg you – don’t take to the streets. Don’t turn violent. Write your public officials and voice your displeasure. Then, visit nrglab.asia, and see how you can join NRGLab’s true energy revolution.

Higher education is failing. Enter the Internet to save the day!

The cost of higher education around the world is simply too high to have a positive impact on our children’s futures. Sarah Lawrence College in New York tops the list of the world’s most expensive institutions, coming in at a mind-boggling $61,236. That’s $45,900 for basic tuition, $14,312 for room and board, and another $1,024 in miscellaneous fees.

Seriously – who can afford to pay that for a four-year degree in an economy where no job is guaranteed? Are we really willing to burden the next generation with an insurmountable debt?

In Mexico, higher education costs range from $11,777 to a mere $527. In Japan, the average student pays $11,865. Only 33% of Australian families can afford to send their children to college, while in countries like England and Wales, that number drops to around 21%.

That’s only addressing the developed world. In places like Afghanistan, Honduras, and Somalia, higher education is the last thing on the agenda. These countries are busy fighting wars on numerous fronts – against disease, poverty, and tyranny, to name a few.

So do we give up and leave these developing countries to educate themselves? Over two-dozen prestigious universities in the U.S. and abroad say, “No.”

Brown, Columbia, Emory, Vanderbilt and Wesleyan now offer free courses online, joining the likes of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Berklee College of Music, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, University of British Columbia, University of London, University of Melbourne, and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

The internet is reshaping the way the world views education. Coursera, an online platform that features some 200 courses from 33 institutions, has drawn over a million students across the globe. Another site called EdX was founded by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to allow absolutely ANYONE with an internet connection to complete independent certification programs.

Still, we have to remember that not everyone in the world has access to regular electricity, let alone an internet connection. That brings us back to our original question:  do we just give up and move on?

NRGLab doesn’t believe quitting is ever an option. We’ve dedicated ourselves to developing a clean, cost-efficient system of power generation with the aim of bringing electricity to the third world.

Because electricity is the seed from which all modern innovation flourishes. With an SH-Box generator in every home, on every island, across the driest deserts and wettest wetlands, not only can we can give people the security of energy independence, we can give them an opportunity to better themselves through education.

Not everything has to cost an arm and a leg in such uncertain economic times. See how affordable an SH-Box can be by visiting nrglab.asia and learning when we’ll be holding our next auction.