Transitioning to sustainable energy became a sort of game on the Island of Samsø, and according to an article in The New Yorker, the residents (and the environment) won. Now carbon neutral and a net energy exporter to the Danish mainland, this community of mostly farmers once imported heating oil and coal-based electricity. Each person produced more than 11 tons of CO2 emissions per year. Circumstances conspired, but the culture shift is what made the transition work.
The people took up the challenge and did it with creativity and pride. They built wind turbines in their back yards, replaced furnaces with heat pumps, insulated and changed light bulbs, grew and crushed seed for biodiesel, joined together to invest in large land and offshore wind turbines, and built a district heating plant using biomass and solar power. They spent five years looking at each other and waiting for someone else to start, then accomplished everything in the next 10. Now their only emissions impact is from visitors coming from around the world to study them. In an MSNBC interview with Soren Hermansen, Samsø’s sustainability champion, he says the change has also boosted the community economy and created a lot of jobs.
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