A City Wonders How Green Is Too Green. By Nicholas Kulish, IHTribune, August 7, 2008. "[The] fairy tale town [of Marburg, Germany] is stuck in the middle of a utopian struggle… The town council took the significant step in June of moving from merely encouraging citizens to install solar panels to [requiring] them… The ordinance, [set to take effect Oct. 1 and] the first of its kind in Germany, will require solar panels not only on new buildings… but also on existing homes that undergo renovations or get new heating systems or roof repairs. …A fine of 1,000 euros, about $1,500, awaits those who do not comply. Critics howled… [about] the rights of property owners. The regional government in Giessen… warned it would overturn the rule. City officials in Marburg said, in turn, that they would take their case either to administrative court or all the way to the Hessian state capital, where they would try to get the state building code changed to protect their ordinance… 'We have a serious energy problem with the older homes,' Marburg's deputy mayor, Franz Kahle, said... To make a real leap forward, he said, a dramatic step was necessary.'"
2008-08-08
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment