Offshore windmill park on route to Samsø. Photo: Jan Dahlmann

Samsø, the world’s first island entirely dependent on renewable energy was the destination of a group of international journalists visiting Denmark during the UN Climate Change Conference  

By Jan Dahlmann, journalist, reporting for IMS

Samsø island, an area about 40 square miles with a permanent population of about 4,000,  won a Danish government competition for communities that wanted to prove that they could live entirely off renewable energy. Within ten years, they have achieved this and are essentially living “the green dream.”

The world's first non-fossil fuel island

- What a fantastic story, Douglas Fischer, an American freelance journalist from Daily Climate.org. said, looking across Samsø Island's countryside and five wind turbines towering up in the distance.

- I’m impressed to see how the citizens of Samsø organise things in a cooperative manner to run their renewable energy installations. I just wonder how I can translate this into a story for an American audience.

Douglas Fischer is among 15 journalists honoured with an Earth Journalism Award in Copenhagen for their unique stories on climate change and environmental issues. 

To get to Samsø, he and 30 other journalists from 20 countries, all attending the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, COP15, had woken up early to join a bus trip to Samsø organised by Danish Energy Tours.

On the way to the island they learned about district heating in Denmark, where hot waste water from power plants is pumped into insulated pipes and distributed to buildings where it is used for heating. The result is better use of the energy produced in power plants whether by coal or by natural gasses, straw or wood pellets.

Samsø -  a step into the 21st century

The recipe for Samsø's renewable energy success is will – and organisation and some good engineering companies. Could Samsøs success be translated from a local to a global level?

Plant physiologist Nöel Pallais, a scientist from Peru also participating in the trip found that Samsø had taken a step into the 21^st century due to the community’s commitment to leave fossil fuel behind.

Standing in front of a combined solar heating and wood pellet plant producing heat for the Samsø community, he said:

- Could this be done in Peru? For sure. Journalists from Peru should learn about this as well as learning about the whole climate change theory and the negations within the so-called climate change framework. The press is so important in this regard. But in Peru, as in most of Central America, journalists have a long way to go, he concluded. 

Douglas Fischer, the American journalist added that a big difference between USA and Denmark is local ownership and involvement of the local society.

- In the states we have those huge oil- and energy companies that seem to eliminate the engagement of the local population as we have seen it in Denmark. The companies are so big that they completely dominate cities and regions and define what energy solutions should be available.

For more about the Earth Journalism Awards, click here.