A MODEL carbon-neutral island in Denmark is proving the practical and possible use of renewable energy from nothing new or fancy – just everything Mother Nature has to offer.
Samso is a small Danish island of about 4000 residents an hour's ferry ride or about 15 kilometres off the mainland Jutland.
It's been carbon neutral since 2003 after it won a Danish Government competition calling for communities to prove how they could dramatically reduce their reliance on traditional energy, get into renewables and go neutral following the introduction of new renewable energy laws.
Samso won, and this determined community has been making its history of reliance on coal and fuel…history!
Samso now generates 140 per cent of its own energy needs. It shed its reliance on imported oil and electricity from the mainland by having locals invest in wind power, biomass and solar plants.
Farming has always been central to life on Samso, and is pivotal now in the generation of renewable energy.
There are now 11 one megawatt turbines on land at Samso and 10 offshore turbines, and farmers and local co-operatives have been behind their investment.
Farmers also supply the fuel for district heating plants which have been built to generate additional power from woodchips, straw and solar.
Ten per cent of private households have their own private energy sources.
According to Jesper Kjems from the Samso Energy Academy, these combined power sources mean Samso can supply all the energy it needs for its 2500 households and businesses and send surplus power it can't store back to the mainland.
Mr Kjems said while there were lots of new energy alternatives being discussed and researched, the community did not want to wait and moved to utilise all that was currently available to meet their "100 per cent in 10 year target".
"Our entire project has been designed around what was available," Mr Kjems said.
"The whole project aim was to be able to export the same amount of new energy as we imported in terms of fossil fuels in 10 years.
"When our offshore turbines were completed we met that target and we had a CO2 reduction of 140 per cent by 2003."
Mr Kjems said the motivation was to "think local and act local".
"We want more people to move here, we want to grow our community," he said.
"This whole project was designed to do something good for our island. It was never a project about saving polar bears in Greenland.
"If the world follows us, then that's another thing. But it needed to start local first."
Mr Kjems argues it is a project that could be copied anywhere.
He acknowledged the antagonism in some communities in Denmark and elsewhere throughout the world towards wind power because of the imposing look of the turbines, their sound, and the fact only the landowner involved was getting a return.
"The special thing about this place is not so much the technology but the fact the whole community has taken part," Mr Kjems said.
"Two turbines are now owned co-operatively and 450 people from the island own shares in the turbines.
"We always wanted to make sure many in the community were able to take part.
"We believe we need everyone to feel part of the project and get some benefit from it for it to work.
"On Samso, the turbines sound different here because they sound like money."
He said the flow on effects of the energy project have been immense, instilling a new sense of local pride in residents.
"People are thinking economically but buying locally. There is immense pride in our people to be C02 neutral."
Email a friend