Danish island is carbon free!

Havvindmøller ved Samsø. Foto venligst udlånt af Samsø EnergiAkademi

Samso (Samsø), in Denmark, became self-sufficient in electricity production using only renewable sources. Not only energy issues were solved but it also became income for many families!

Wind turbines supply the energy needed by farms. The surplus energy is sold and it generates an income usually 3 times more than what is made by the farm itself. "I sell more electricity than milk" says a farmer. People that can't have the turbines in their backyard are shareholders of offshore wind farms. 

The surplus energy is sent to the public system and a credits system is in place so that the proprietors of solar panels can spend their credit during the winter. The houses are heated by a central system that uses locally burned straw to produce the energy and cars are now either electric or powered on biofuels.

It started in 1997, when Samso won a government competition to become a model renewable energy community. The island was dependent on oil and coal coming from the mainland. Today, Samso exports energy, what brings income to the island that can be re-invested in benefits for the community. As a result, Samso has nowadays one of the highest quality of life indexes of the world!

If you want to know more about Samso and its renewable model, click here  for a full article published by Scientific America or see this video done by CBS News.