24.2 Reliance on renewable energy is a characteristic of a sustainable ecosystem and society.

Samsø used to be just like most communities on Earth: fully dependent on fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas. As recently as 1998, Samsø imported all of its energy resources from the mainland: tankers hauled oil into its ports and electricity generated from burning coal was imported via cables.

But in 1997, the government of Denmark decided it was important to promote the idea of renewable energy, energy from sources that are replenished over short time scales or that are perpetually available. To do so, they announced a competition: which local area or island could become self-sufficient on renewable energy? The contest invited applicants to describe which renewable resources were available in their community and how they would be used to replace fossil fuels.

The purpose of the contest was to put communities on track to be more sustainable. To qualify as a sustainable energy source, the energy must be renewable, with a low enough environmental impact that it can be used for the long term. As a result, any source of energy that causes environmental damage when it is captured or produced, such as generating waste or pollution, is not ideal. For example, experts continue to debate the value of “clean coal”—this type of coal does burn more cleanly than typical coal, but causes environmental damage when it is extracted and requires a lot of energy to process into a cleaner fuel—while still generating toxic waste (for more, see Chapter 19).

Even though Samsø is small—about 26 kilometres long and only 7 kilometres at its widest—it has plenty of the natural resources that are becoming increasingly important sources of sustainable energy. A small firm put together an application for the contest, and the little island won.