Cow's milk and more: Energy efficiency in Samsø, Denmark

As the Copenhagen climate summit draws ever closer, climate change and clean energy are on the minds of many. It's fitting that the summit will take place in Denmark, which continues to be a leader in addressing these issues. The Danish island of Samsø is one example of sustainable energy development, as the news service Tierramérica reports.

Samsø Island, Beyond Fantasy 

by Julio Godoy, Tierramérica

On the Danish island of Samsø, a model of energy self-sufficiency, even cow's milk helps reduce emissions of climate changing gases.

Samsø is an island of 114 square kilometers with just over 4,000 people, located in the Bay of Kattegat, in the North Sea, some 120 km west of Copenhagen.

Its much-deserved reputation as model of sustainability is due to the fact that it uses wind turbines and solar panels to generate all of the energy its inhabitants consume.

Since 1997 when Samsø won a national competition to become a prototype community in the use of renewable energy sources, the Samsingers, as its people are known, revolutionized all aspects of their daily lives in order to contribute to greater efficiency.

The effort has such a broad scope that even milk production is part of the energy system.

Read the rest of this article at Tierramérica