Abstract: Electrical power generation is changing dramatically across the world because of the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to introduce mixed energy sources. Peter Altmaier, German Minister of Environment stated „the move towards a new, regenerative energy supply will make the German economy more innovative and competitive" some years ago. The German “Energiewende” become an example for many countries including Poland. Nowadays some experts say “Germany's aggressive and reckless expansion of wind and solar power has come with a hefty price tag for consumers, and the costs often fall disproportionately on the poor. Government advisors are calling for a completely new start “(Der Spiegel). What is a true story?
Unfortunately the greenhouse effect, environment pollution, power generation means become just a playground for the politicians in many countries. “Energiewende” from very beginning has not considered many environmental, social, technical and economic constrains. It is like an act of communication that also communicates something about communication itself and which has been developed into one of the guiding principles of energy market creativity. Assumptions are very similar in their logic to the „Esamtkunstwerk”, universal artwork - proposed by Wagner in which the role of artist is similar to that played by the philosopher or a priest. Nowadays the politicians not so well educated in the field which they talk about (and unfortunately sometimes govern) wish to play this role.
As a matter of fact the thermodynamic laws which has started to be developed in Wagner’s époque, science and technology principles should be the main driving forces regarding the progress of civilization. Of course social, environmental and economical aspects have to be considered in any case.
This presentation recalls some knowledge from thermodynamics which has to be remembered and relates it to some aspects of energy (mostly electrical) production and challenges. The names of Kelvin, Carnot, Rankine, Clausius, Hess and many others apply to write the history of energy production and consumption and should be never forgotten and their laws applied to verify our dreams regarding clean and “cost free” energy production, like “Energiewende” is.
Beside energy conservation rules, irreversibility of the processes and energy efficiency principles, heat of reactions, the new engineering and technological, and environmental aspects have to be considered. The power network faces great challenges related to small dispersed energy sources construction in transmission and distribution to meet demand with unpredictable daily and seasonal variations. Another unresolved issue is the lack of refined storage technology that would make it possible to more effectively store energy generated from renewable sources for peak times when the grid could put it to best use. The environmental aspects of each technology and land area free of anthropological actions preservation have to be analyzed in any case. The theoretical aspects of power industry development are discussed and compared with the result of the experiments which are ongoing and being implemented in Germany, Finland, Sweden and other countries.

Keywords: Energiewende, electricity generation mix, renewable energy sources, nuclear power, environment pollution