Conclusions and Reflections

The East German energy system ended up being restructured but, unfortunately, not modernized. The system was changed from a system based completely on brown coal to a system in which electricity production was still based on brown coal and house heating was based on oil and natural gas. Only a very small percentage of house heating was based on CHP. The restructuring would bring the CO2 emission down from 20 ton/inhabitant in 1989 to 13 ton/inhabitant in year 2010, which was still much higher than the EU average of 8 ton/inhabitant.

By the design and promotion of a concrete technical alternative, it was shown that alternatives did exist, which not only restructured but also modernized the energy system. The implementation ...

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