ZERO ENERGY URBAN COMMUNITIES -- A new concept in sustainable urban and regional land use and transportation planning is the design of zero energy communities. This is an exciting new concept of using an integrated variety of renewable energy sources to make a community energy self-sufficient. Perhaps the best example of such a new zero energy community is the Danish island of Samso. Covering an area of 46 square miles, or approximately the size of the island of Nantucket, the citizens of Samso decided that they were going to make themselves totally energy self-sufficient. By constructing wind turbines, solar panels, and burning their biomass to produce energy, not only has Samso become totally energy self-sufficient -- but it now exports energy to the Danish mainland! Following the Samso example, the entire country of Denmark has now committed to energy self-sufficiency and produces 20 percent of its total energy needs from wind turbines, and has become the world's leading manufacturer and supplier of wind turbines. This illustrates how "going green" can be an economic stimulus to a community. Monday, April 20, 2009
ZERO ENERGY URBAN COMMUNITIES -- A new concept in sustainable urban and regional land use and transportation planning is the design of zero energy communities. This is an exciting new concept of using an integrated variety of renewable energy sources to make a community energy self-sufficient. Perhaps the best example of such a new zero energy community is the Danish island of Samso. Covering an area of 46 square miles, or approximately the size of the island of Nantucket, the citizens of Samso decided that they were going to make themselves totally energy self-sufficient. By constructing wind turbines, solar panels, and burning their biomass to produce energy, not only has Samso become totally energy self-sufficient -- but it now exports energy to the Danish mainland! Following the Samso example, the entire country of Denmark has now committed to energy self-sufficiency and produces 20 percent of its total energy needs from wind turbines, and has become the world's leading manufacturer and supplier of wind turbines. This illustrates how "going green" can be an economic stimulus to a community. 
