Dimensie

At only about 665 road kilometers from Enschede, you can find the Danish island Samsø. Because the island is so centrally located, the vikings famously used the island as a meeting place. Now, Samsø is the first island in the world to become carbon negative, energy positive and completely self-sufficient through the use of wind energy and biomass. This is a very inspiring and hopeful portrait for the future, but how did they do it?

In 1997, Denmark had a very ambitious minister for the environment who announced that the country would make significant cuts in energy and fossil fuel use in the coming 10 years. Twenty three years ago, the island won a government competition to become a model community based on renewable energy. At that time, the island was entirely dependent on oil and coal imported from the mainland. They made a 10-year plan stating how they would transform the island, moving from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Thirteen years ago, the inhabitants of the island could proudly say that their island had become 100% self-sufficient in renewable energy production.Even though this is quite an achievement, the inhabitants of Samsø didn't stop there.

One of the main lessons we can learn from the transformation of the island is that you first have to convince an important person in the community that change is possible, and that change is profitable. In the case of Samsø, this was the village blacksmith and the village electrician. After winning a government contest for sustainability, the island knew what they had to do: become energy self-sufficient in 10 years. At first people were sceptical about turning their island into a green paradise, and others tried before but did not succeed. 

Ownership turned out to be a crucial part in the proces. Villagers could invest in wind turbines and make money with them, so next to profit they also feel like “this wind turbine is here because of me”. The village electrician even ended up purchasing a second-hand wind turbine. The great part about locally producing energy, is that islanders would much rather buy energy from their neighbors across the street instead of strangers across the world. 

Not only the energy use changed drastically, the community transformed along with it. Back in 1997, a wind turbine would cost over 1 million dollars. The islanders had high hopes, but not high enough to cough up such a large amount of money. So, they had to work together. It took countless cups of coffee, games of jeu de boule and complementary beers to figure out how to divide the costs of the turbine. A few years later, all of the owners were profiting off having a share in a turbine. And more importantly, they were investing the money back into the environment. Through a common goal, the community shifted into a closely connected network of individuals who all share the same feeling of pride about their accomplishments.

Twenty three years after the island accepted this crazy challenge, the island produces enough sustainable energy for their homes and homes of 20.000 other families in Denmark. Not only have they produced a green society, they produced a green economy.The island has also set up an institute for renewable energy to offer advice and to inspire other communities about how to make this radical shift as well. And most importantly, the Samsø’s blacksmith’s power meter is running backwards.