Posted on 03/11/2007 4:25:03 AM PDT by Keli Kilohana
Danish Island Is Energy Self-Sufficient
(March 9) - It's a two-hour ferry ride to the Danish island of Samso — and it can seem like a trip back through time... Samso is an area about 40 square miles long with a permanent population of about 4,000 — all of them living a green dream.
Take farmer Erik Andersen. His tractor runs on oil from rape seed, which he grows. His hot water and power come from his solar panels or wind turbines. There's not a fossil fuel in site.
--snip--
To harness the wind, of which they have plenty, they built wind turbines. To harness public good will, they sold shares in those turbines to the islanders so the machines produce local power and local profits.
To provide heat, they burn locally grown straw in central plants that produce super hot water and pump it through underground pipes into peoples' homes.
--snip--
The Samso scheme has become so successful that the island has installed a string of turbines offshore to make surplus power to sell to the mainland.
(Excerpt) Read more at articles.news.aol.com ...
I think that clear cutting tundra to plant the fields in the appropriately named "rape seeds" and switch grass to produce fuel for tractors. (What about fuel for gasoline engines? Must be imported!) and furnaces has upset the pristine ecological balance of the island--leading to drowning polar bears. I betcha!
I think that none of the American High-anus-port, Mass. Kennedys live there; because, they would have condemned windmill electric generators as "vista-pollution"--NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard)! Build them in WV!
I think that impact studies should be done on how windmill electric generators affect the global air streams. Draining wind power must affect the streams of air--perhaps causing increased hurricane activity (except for 2006). Also, how many endangered birds have been killed--sliced, diced and fricasseed--on the generator blades?
And, finally, I don't think--I know: The Father of Carbon Offsets, Al Gore, could NOT live there! His eight cylinder Cadillac Escalate and private jet can't run on Rape-seed-aline
Ecology is about local conditions. That is why national or global movements are nonsense.
Where did the energy come from for 40 square miles of pipe. LOL
By car, you can get from one end to the other by traveling at about three furlongs per fortnight.
:^)
Rape seed goes by the term "canola" in the United States.
Is there a way to look at things recently added to a computer (small things, not entire programs, such as plugins, patches, updates, etc.)? Is there some sort of log?
Yes, the feminist movement would have banned it under its original name.
I think that the windmills, solar collectors and pipe were made from stale Rapeberry Danishes, switch grass, drowned polar bears and seaweed.
Must be an ISO thing¿?
This great idea wouldn't work if they had a Mexican border and the news will just bring Muslim to their island.
There goes the Neighborhood.
Good Luck Samso.
And a little whale fat...
To complete the dream they would have to be able to at least make all of the spare parts for their windmills and tractors and any additions would have to be locally produced without fossil fuels. I'd also bet that any serious form of medical care would come from away.
Any small, determined homogeneous group can draw a line around itself and proclaim that this area is "green" once they've imported the capital necessities that are produced in the industrial areas. But unless they really go subsistance they'll always be dependent on the outside.
But Samsø ost (cheese) is to die for and the
Samsø brunede kartoffler (browned new potatoes) are anticipated each spring they're brought out with fanfare, even if they're the size of grapes. Last spring one restaurant bought some 20 pounds of the first potatoes for more than $1,800.
Don't need no stinkin Gore on Samsø (sam-soo). Besides there are no Polar bears. At least when I lived in Denmark there were none. In those days Samsø didn't even have any tractors. A fabulous place that island.
LOL I can see where this is going.
It might be an ISO thing. I still wondering how they pipe hot water for up to 40 miles...and keep it hot. Our ISO in N.E. does a pretty good job. Certainly better than our idiot politicos!
Neat article, thanks for posting, Keli!
Investing in renewable energy: Samso's eco-revolution
http://www.dailyreckoning.co.uk/article/27032006.html
Mon 27 Mar, 2006
the 20-mile by 6-mile island,
District heating plants pump hot water to nearby homes for individual heating purposes. The water is heated using a combination of solar panels and renewable wood pellet or straw-furnaces.
With only 25% of heat energy derived from fossil fuels, Samso’s well on its way to achieving 100% renewable status ahead of schedule.
I S O
International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, www.iso.ch An organization that sets international standards,
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