It's nice to see that something I banged about on a theoretical level (thinking it may come to pass in decades...) actually works: wind+solar with comparable capacities combine to something resembling the diurnal (and annual) variation of consumption on average. On a related issue, a recent article on the economic unviability of a pumping storage power plant pointed at the merit order effect of solar as cause.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

While the day shown was exceptional, here is another news on the whole of 2011: CO2 emissions by the 1640 plants which have to participate in emissions trading (who together emit about half of Germany's CO2 emissions) fell 1% vs. 2010. That while the economy grew 3% and several nuclear plants were shut down and closed after Fukushima. The combined 450 million tons of CO2 were below the 452.8-million-ton limit – which to me indicates that cap-and-trade is not necessarily the fastest possible way of emissions reductions.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}