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Greenest Island Runs Completely on Renewable Energy . . .

gizmodo.com — The Danish isle of Sams ø, over the past 10 years, has gone from exclusively using fossil fuel energy sources, to living exclusively off renewable energy. Using a combination of onshore &offshore turbines, private mini-turbines, solar panels, straw-burning furnaces & biofuels, the 4,300-resident island has become a sort of a sandbox for green . . .

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  • vsujohn2, on 07/05/2008, -3/+11These environmental investments really end up paying for themselves, so in this case they're going dutch.
    • blackjack75, on 07/05/2008, -1/+9Did the Netherlands invade that island in the meantime?
    • Lazydriver, on 07/06/2008, -3/+6Buried for confusing the Dutch and the Danish.
  • phreak79, on 07/05/2008, -0/+12The Danish are world leaders in wind turbine technology so it's not surprising that they have places like this. Legoland too. Quite a place :)
    • Tahiri, on 07/06/2008, -7/+1What's next for the dutch? Wind turbines for Lego Mindstormers?
      • jbeardsl, on 07/06/2008, -1/+6Danish != Dutch
      • lisaawesome, on 07/06/2008, -0/+3Psst Denmark = Danish, the Netherlands = Dutch. Try to think of Denmark as the home of those delicious morning pastries. mmmmm.
      • TheMightyDane, on 07/06/2008, -1/+3And beer and blondes.
    • RedSaint, on 07/07/2008, -0/+1You're giving us too much credit.

      Remember that we slaughter seals, whales and dolphins. We produce too much CO2, we drink too much, we're ALL racist (Remember the Muhammed drawings? We all agreed on publishing those), and we think of ourselves as a super power which is why we went to war in the middle east with our close and good buddies, the US of A.

      This is just a publicity stunt because of the meeting where we will discuss some of the global warming stuff. Where DK is hosting the event.
  • sleepyjjk, on 07/05/2008, -0/+15This is wonderful - I hope 100% renewable energy will be viable all over the world within the next 50 years. (And I hope that's not unrealistically hoping for too much)
  • Newsdude, on 07/05/2008, -1/+16A VERY long ass article, but worth the read! Everyone needs to do what they can to go GREEN!
  • TwoBlowFish, on 07/06/2008, -5/+4Well I think it's great, I'm going to Denmark with a schook exchange next year. I will try to make my Danish family go there and send you guys pics.
    • lisaawesome, on 07/06/2008, -0/+2My friend just got back from 6 months in Denmark and she loved it! I hope you do too. The universities there serve beer to students!
      • abid8740, on 07/06/2008, -0/+1They do in Canada as well
      • SimonGray, on 07/10/2008, -0/+1High schools serve beer too (they usually arrange monthly parties for their students).
    • jboettcher, on 07/06/2008, -1/+1aw gee that's nice
    • lisaawesome, on 07/06/2008, -0/+1@abid Damn what are the American universities thinking? I need more beer at school! lol
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  • tumz, on 07/06/2008, -1/+2Im danish and i had no idea this was going on :) But pretty neat though.
  • Sphinxer, on 07/06/2008, -0/+4Actually the name of the island is Samsø not Sams ø, but oh well.
  • mrzeero, on 07/06/2008, -1/+2Samsø ***** Yeah!
  • aserer511, on 07/06/2008, -8/+1RAWR WE NEED SUPERHOMES AND H2S ON THAT ISLAND RAWR
    /American :P
  • Alex2, on 07/06/2008, -6/+5And then the mathematicians come along and point out that at 4300 people in 114 square kilometers, that's only 37 people per square kilometer.

    The population of earth is 6,708,278,176 with 148,940,000 square kilometers of land.. or 45 people per square kilometer.

    Add another 8 people per square kilometer (912) to that place and see how they do. I'd expect a war to break out over resources.
    • nullcodes, on 07/06/2008, -0/+2Singaporeans don't seem to have a problem living 6,000 per square kilometer.

      In fact 9 of the top 10 most densely populated countries are well off (though having been to the island paradises of the maldives, I'd say all 10 .. but the economy is still developing and i don't have crime stats so i digress).

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_ ...
      • frontporsche, on 07/06/2008, -0/+3I think you missed Alex2's point. Those 6000 Singaporeans aren't having to live on only enough power for 37 people.

      • Alex2, on 07/07/2008, -0/+1Singapore imports it's energy and food resources.

        The only way they'd be able to power that island without generating carbon would be to build nuclear power plants.
  • OC73, on 07/06/2008, -9/+4Great, can we send all the other green-obsessed loons there?
  • Typhoon2009, on 07/06/2008, -1/+6That was sø interesting. Also, Iceland's another pretty green island... pretty sure all their power and heat comes from hydroelectric and geothermal sources.
    • gummih, on 07/07/2008, -0/+199.9% of Iceland's electricity is currently generated from renewable sources
      geothermal power heats 89% of the houses in Iceland (the rest have electric heating)
      Iceland plans to become the world's first hydrogen economy, with all of their private automobiles, fishing boats, and public transportation running on hydrogen fuel by 2050. This would make Iceland the first completely energy-independent country in the world, using 100% renewable energy sources.
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_I ...
  • ibanezdtx120, on 07/06/2008, -0/+2Oil is a "renewable energy" too....we're just using it up quicker than the Earth can make it
    • mrzeero, on 07/06/2008, -0/+2Exactly. It is just like salmon and whales.
  • bat-21, on 07/06/2008, -0/+2Direct link: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/07/07/0807 ...
  • beauley, on 07/06/2008, -0/+1With Global Warming on many people's minds, do we have any ideas of the best way to lessen the impact on our future, or maybe a possible relief of its possible ravages or even a possible key to its eventual reversal. Many scientific experts have proposed
    http://www.quazen.com/Science/Technology/Solar-Pow ...
    Solar Power, Source of Endless Energy
  • jgoodman22, on 07/06/2008, -0/+1Now we need to get cars and automobiles running completely off renewable energy..we are getting closer every day though, http://www.thegreenmotorist.com/index.php/prius-co ...
  • Junkey, on 07/06/2008, -0/+2What about their imports, how green are those?
  • CHANNELOCK, on 07/06/2008, -1/+1Poor Danes...when the Oceans rise because of Global warming all of Denmark will be under water anyway,it was nice while it lasted
    • Alex2, on 07/07/2008, -0/+1Funny because it's true?
    • CHANNELOCK, on 07/07/2008, -0/+0Yes its true,Denmark,Holland look like a flat dairy farm with cute hamlets and homes with water water everywhere
  • nullcodes, on 07/07/2008, -0/+1I did not miss Alex2's point.

    It doesnt matter that Singapore has to import its food. The fact is Singapore is able to generate the economic output needed to sustain itself and is able to exchange products to farmers for food legally. Now if it came down to it, instead of importing their food and energy, they could build nuclear power plants, solar power plants --panels on every rooftop there is more than enough solar potential alone, whatever.

    On food. Food is just stored energy plus minerals --BUT the amount of minerals etc doesnt change only gets recycled -- minerals are not consumed.. so the only consumable that gets used up or "disappears" in food is energy. So as long as we can produce energy we can produce food. I am not talking about growing food crops inside multi floor skyscrapers with artificial lighting. There is more than enough land for growing food in the deserts if canals and desalination infrastructure gets built -- remember Singapore's economic output is enough to pay for their own food/energy needs. Imagine if the entire Sahara desert was farmland .. there are enough mineral and other resources there to produce high quality food .. only thing missing is irrigation facilities. The israelis have already proven it's possible to farm in the desert.

    Food is an energy problem, and given high economic output .. energy problems are solvable in a sustainable manner -- with solar or nuclear (even assuming fusion tech fails, with innovative remix and return technolgoy harmful waste is virtually elimanted).

    Population growth slows down as people are economically well off, this is a proven fact .. so we may have a depopulation problem when there is an excess of economic wellbeing.

    Think about it .. Singapore is in the midst of a campaign to encourage people to have more babies and also to attract immigrants .. because the people are so well off they don't want to have too enough kids.
  • Jaryd2006, on 07/07/2008, -0/+1So then.....Greensburg is pointless? As far as setting an example anyway, I mean, what good is a city of a few hundred being green when an entire island of thousands is....Ah well I hope they finish.
  • nikgare, on 07/07/2008, -0/+0They make great cheese on Samsø.
    http://www.cheeseline.com/gourmet-cheese/samsoe-ch ...
    • RedSaint, on 07/07/2008, -0/+1All over Denmark as well. The reason our cheese doesn't taste as good as in other European countries may be because of the use of un-pasteurised milk. Danish laws doesn't allow that.
  • pervezalammzn, on 07/07/2008, -0/+1right alternate :)
  • kellercj, on 07/07/2008, -0/+0Sorry to take the wind out of everyone's sail, but Samsø does not completely run on renewable energy, nor is the island "energy independent." Yes, they do produce a lot of electricity via wind, but as the New Yorker article points out:

    "...as a practical matter, Samsø’s production of electricity and its needs fluctuate, so that sometimes it is feeding power into the grid and sometimes it is drawing power from it."

    While some of the vehicles on Samsø run on biodiesel produced on the island, other vehicles run on imported petrol. The offshore windmills are meant to offset the emissions from this petrol, but the island still imports energy when needed and is still tied to the electric grid.
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