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Denmark's Living Green Island |
Samso's offshore wind turbines
(c)Jesper Kiems, Energy Officer, Samso Energy Academy
by Becky Daniels
4,000 islanders on the Danish island of Samso run all their homes, farms and businesses without using any fossil fuels. Samso has developed an almost entirely self-sufficient energy system, which has improved life for the whole community.
"It's a very good feeling because we're a renewable energy island," says farmer, Erik Anderson, who runs his tractor on homegrown rapeseed oil and gets his hot water and power from solar panels and wind turbines.
Since winning a national competition in 1997, Samso was given the go ahead to provide all its energy from renewable sources. It has been so successful that 100 per cent of its electricity now comes from wind power while 75 per cent of its heat comes from combining solar power and fuels from biomass.
To save money, the island installed collective solar thermal plants, which pump hot water to the majority of near-by houses. Locally grown straw and wood pellets burnt in central furnaces produce hot water piped underground straight to people's homes. This efficient system is totally carbon neutral.
Ten offshore wind turbines produce Samso's electricity. This compensates for emissions from all the island's trans-port including the ferries. Sometimes the turbines even make surplus energy to sell to the mainland - a bonus for the slanders who are the shareholders!
Experts on Samso are currently working on two ideas to solve the residual problem of fuel emissions. Biofuel from rapeseed oil can power any vehicle once the engine has been adapted, so diesel guzzlers, like ferries and tractors, will all be converted. However, this small island cannot produce enough biofuel for every car so the residents also want to build a wind-powered hydrogen plant as soon as possible. Plans for a hydrogen-fuelled truck are also in the pipeline.
Support from the whole community to bring about this green dream has been essential. "People participate, not because they are forced to by the authorities, but because they want to," says the Manager of Samso's Energy and Environment Office, Soren Hermansen.
Samso Energy & Environment Office
www.energiakademiet.dk
Story from Positive News UK
4,000 islanders on the Danish island of Samso run all their homes, farms and businesses without using any fossil fuels. Samso has developed an almost entirely self-sufficient energy system, which has improved life for the whole community.
"It's a very good feeling because we're a renewable energy island," says farmer, Erik Anderson, who runs his tractor on homegrown rapeseed oil and gets his hot water and power from solar panels and wind turbines.
Since winning a national competition in 1997, Samso was given the go ahead to provide all its energy from renewable sources. It has been so successful that 100 per cent of its electricity now comes from wind power while 75 per cent of its heat comes from combining solar power and fuels from biomass.
To save money, the island installed collective solar thermal plants, which pump hot water to the majority of near-by houses. Locally grown straw and wood pellets burnt in central furnaces produce hot water piped underground straight to people's homes. This efficient system is totally carbon neutral.
Ten offshore wind turbines produce Samso's electricity. This compensates for emissions from all the island's trans-port including the ferries. Sometimes the turbines even make surplus energy to sell to the mainland - a bonus for the slanders who are the shareholders!
Experts on Samso are currently working on two ideas to solve the residual problem of fuel emissions. Biofuel from rapeseed oil can power any vehicle once the engine has been adapted, so diesel guzzlers, like ferries and tractors, will all be converted. However, this small island cannot produce enough biofuel for every car so the residents also want to build a wind-powered hydrogen plant as soon as possible. Plans for a hydrogen-fuelled truck are also in the pipeline.
Support from the whole community to bring about this green dream has been essential. "People participate, not because they are forced to by the authorities, but because they want to," says the Manager of Samso's Energy and Environment Office, Soren Hermansen.
Samso Energy & Environment Office
www.energiakademiet.dk
Story from Positive News UK
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