nuclear-news

Fukushima residents learn at first hand the success of renewable energy projects

“It is important for the Japanese to realize that renewable energy can work on a large scale, and that people can make money from it,” said Yamamoto, 

Fukushima residents tour German renewable village; learn about non-nuclear energy sources Washington Post, By Associated Press,  November 30 FELDHEIM, Germany — A group of residents from the radiation-stricken area around Japan’s tsunami-hit nuclear reactors and a Tokyo actor are visiting Germany to learn how renewable energy could work in their
homeland…..

The group, organized and led by representatives of Greenpeace Japan, arrived Wednesday in the northeastern German village of Feldheim to learn how its 145 residents have taken advantage of the energy generated by a nearby windfarm and a biofuel plant that burns the
waste from a local pig farm to become an entirely self-sustaining, energy-positive village…..

renewable sources now provide Germans with 17 percent of their power,
as compared with 9 percent in Japan.

Actor Taro Yamamoto, a resident of Tokyo who has also devoted himself
to the fight against nuclear power since the accident, said the first
step to bringing about change is for Japan to start educating the
people about energy.

“It is important for the Japanese to realize that renewable energy can
work on a large scale, and that people can make money from it,” said
Yamamoto, who actively asked questions about Feldheim’s 43 wind
turbines and the 600 pigs that produce the waste to fuel the biogas
plant.

“In order to let the people of Japan know, it is important to be here,
to see this,” he said, standing beneath a towering wind turbine.

Knape, Feldheim’s mayor, said it took about 10 years for residents in
the area to come around to the idea of investing in renewable energy.
They were truly convinced when they realized that building their own
power network would result in a 25 to 30 percent cut in their
electricity bills and annual savings of €100,000 ($134,180) in energy
costs for the farmer’s co-op in the village.

The 30 local jobs created through the windpark and the biogas plant
provided further proof for Feldheim residents that their decision to
rely on renewables, and themselves, was the right one.

“The energy revolution is taking place in the countryside,” said
Werner Frohwitter, spokesman for Feldheim’s energy project. “We have
created a whole new perspective for these people.”..
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/fukushima-residents-tour-german-renewable-village-learn-about-non-nuclear-energy-sources/2011/11/30/gIQA9u5jCO_story.html

December 1, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | decentralised, Germany