2008-09-23
The Miraculous Isle of Samso. By Robin McKie, London Guardian, September 21, 2008. “Jorgen Tranberg looks a farmer to his roots: grubby blue overalls, crumpled T-shirt and crinkled, weather-beaten features... [He] farms at Norreskifte on Samso, a Danish island... steeped in history -- the Vikings built ships and constructed canals here... But Samso has recently undergone a remarkable transformation, one that has given it an unexpected global importance and international technological standing. Although members of a tightly knit, deeply conservative community, Samsingers -- with Jorgen in the vanguard -- have launched a renewable-energy revolution on this windswept scrap of Scandinavia... Ten years ago, islanders drew nearly all their energy from oil and petrol brought in by tankers and from coal-powered electricity transmitted to the island through a mainland cable link. Today that traffic in energy has been reversed. Samsingers now export millions of kilowatt hours of electricity from renewable energy sources to the rest of Denmark. In doing so, islanders have cut their carbon footprint by a staggering 140%. And what Samso can do today, [it claims] the rest of the world can achieve in the near future.” [In pictures, the miraculous island of Samso. Also, click here for a New Yorker piece by Elizabeth Kolbert we included July 7.]
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