Samsoe: Much more than a deserted island in the middle of nowhere

Which is more than we thought when we got here. After spending a day at the Energy Academy, we saw that there is a lot going on in the minds of those who stay here all winter. Clearly, this island was made for the summer time. There are tons of beautiful beach houses and many docks, all now deserted with sad cold boats bobbing next to them. It's not warm here, or even sunny, but you can tell that this place comes alive in the summer time.

But its always sunny at the Energy Academy, where planners, artists, scientists and citizens work together to think of ways to improve the energy consumption of the island. They cultivated their fame by becoming carbon neutral, but they have much more to work on. Farming and transportation are areas of weakness that people like Malene Lunden want to work on. Her transportation project is in the early stages, but she aims to find ways to get this small island to work together and share. She envisions a future where perhaps a neighborhood buys a car together, and rent time with it, or pay a driver to take them where they need to go. Perhaps they build houses with solar panels and can plug electric cars directly into them. Maybe they will build a bank of cars that people can rent for one day at a time. On such a small island, most places are easier to walk than drive. And in an urban setting, some of the same rules apply. If people in the same apartment building shared a car, it would cost less than having one car sitting idle on the street while the tenants simply walked to the grocery store or pub that is right around the corner. The problem lies in the mentality that a car equals independence. Lunden said if we can change the minds of people that a car doesn't have to lend status or independence, we can move on a more cooperative society. She reminded us that we already share oil, and we are drastically running out.

The solution, she said, lies in giving people options and letting them take ownership. If we sold shares in a car that worked like a taxi, everyone would make money. That's the way they made the wind power work on the island. Several people own shares in the windmills, so the profits stay on the island. District heating works the same way. All 200 houses connected to the plant are also co-owners. Their heat costs the same price, but that money goes to pay off the plant, and in the long run they pay off their own energy bills. Ownership is the key to involvement; that is the only way Samsoe can function the way it does.