How Samsø works
Green roads
Petrol-powered cars are still the norm, but there
are now around 20 electric cars on the island.
There are plans to have buses and trucks run on
biodiesel created by cold-pressing oil-seed rape,
the same system used in some farmers’ tractors.
Energiakademiet
The Energiakademiet is a working office, but it
doubles as a place for people to meet and share
ideas, with a central role giving locals tips on how to
save energy at home. “It’s still good business sense
not to use so much energy,” says Hermansen.
Food, shops and restaurants
Started in 2012, Samsø FødevareNetværk
connects farmers with local restaurants and
shops like Smagen af Øen (smagenafoen.dk),
which specialises in seasonal food from the island.
The hope is to become free of imported food.
Solar panels
Photovoltaic solar panels are used in most public
buildings and residents are encouraged to install
them in their homes. When there’s no wind for
the wind turbines, bright skies often help to
replace any shortfall in energy.
Population and jobs
Environmental work on the island has created
30
new permanent jobs, according to Samsø
Energiakademiet, and helped to ease fears over
depopulation – an issue facing lots of Denmark’s
small communities.
Wind turbines
Samsø has 21 large wind turbines – 11 on the
island and 10 off the south coast. Around 70 per
cent of these wind turbines are owned by private
enterprises like farms and the rest are owned by
cooperatives made up of local people.
District heating systems
Biomass (often straw) is bought from farmers and
fed into special stokers at four locations. The fire
warms up water, which is circulated to provide 60–
70
per cent of the island’s central heating needs.
Energy for the rest is supplied by wind turbines.
Public participation
The average Samsø resident has invested more
than DKK100,000 (€13,400) in the island’s green
technology. For DKK3,000 (around €400) they can
buy one share in a wind turbine, equal to around
1,000
kilowatt-hours of energy per year.
Sustainable farming
As well as providing the straw for heating and local
produce, profits from the farmers’ wind turbines
will be ploughed back into developing sustainable
farming techniques. One farmer produces his own
biodiesel by cold-pressing oil-seed rape.
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