farmdoc's blog post number 141

I’ve just read this article in the 7 & 14 July 2008 issue of The New Yorker. ‘The Island in the Wind’ is Samsø in Denmark. Elizabeth Kolbert describes how, why and when electricity generation for Samsø’s 4,300 inhabitants (called Samsingers) changed from fossil fuel to wind. With 21 large and twelve smaller turbines, Samsø’s now a net electricity exporter. Because all this happened via a community-based process within ten years, people come from all parts of the world to study how the Samsingers achieved it. And it’s had a flow-on effect: for example one Samsinger has installed in his back yard, a small-scale turbine which generates more current than his family uses and more than his house’s power lines can handle, so he uses the excess to heat water; and he’s planning to use it to produce hydrogen for a fuel-cell car. Wondrous. So inspired was I that the minute I finished reading about Samsø, I applied for shares in Hepburn Wind which is building two turbines on Leonard’s Hill – under 10km from where darling Kate and darling Meg live with their families. The two turbines will power 2,300 homes - almost the number in greater Daylesford. So all going well, in 2010 our darling ones will be using wind-power. And given the scary statistics in Kolbert’s article, 2010 won’t be a moment too soon.