After Chernobyl, the German town of Schönau didn’t want to get its energy from nuclear power. So its citizens turned the town into an energy producer via solar panels and other green carbon neutral sources. Watch the short film by Journeyman Films. Sadly the German government has cut subsidies to the renewable energy industry, saying it’s not sustainable economically. Hugely unfortunate and I think premature—and likely due to lobbying from the German energy industry. Angela Merkel has appointed someone to shut down the independent systems—he wants a system that is “market oriented” and “reliable” and “cheaper.” It seems unfortunate to abort an incipient clean carbon-neutral industry by pulling the subsidy now, so early.
Read also Rebel energy from the Black Forest from the Goethe Institut.
Another town has done the same thing: Wildpoldsried.