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Oil, gas, coal, and other industries would have you believe that renewable energy is just not practical. One remarkable German city, population 2600, Wildpoldsried Germany proves this notion wrong. The way to renewable energy is here. Only the political will, a market free from interference, and a "can do" attitude are missing.

Wildpoldsried was inhabited before 1392 and was formalized in 1818 in the Kingdom of Bavaria. In 1997, some of the residents began  projects of renewable energy. The first efforts were wind turbines and biomass digesters and later included small hydro plants, photovoltaic panels on private houses, and district heating.

Wildpoldsried More Than Energy Self Sufficient.

Many small communities jumped on the renewable energy bandwagon after Germany introduced feed-in tariffs in 2000, allowing residents to sell the surplus renewable energy they produce back to their utility company. The not-so-secret formula for their success turns out to be government incentives, free market incentives, good old lack of laziness, and of course a lack of political turmoil.

The small town of Wildpoldsried now produces 321 percent more energy than it needs and is generating 4.0 million Euro in annual revenue. This prosperity has brought nine new community buildings, including a school, gymnasium, and a community hall, complete with solar panels. 

What have you done lately for me Koch Industries?

Smart Grid Project And More About This Remarkable Village.

Wildpoldsried has received national and international awards for its progress to date. And since the Japanese Fukushima nuclear disaster other communities have shown an interest and the town has responded with a "how to start your own program".

Wildpoldsried will be involved with a study to investigate the best ways renewables can meet the demands of electric vehicles.

A Wildpoldsried Energy Challenge To Others

Why is it that most don't even get up off the couch even though they have the resources at hand. Perhaps Mark Twain has some insight.

You have described a callow fool, a self-sufficient ass, a mere human tumble-bug, stern in air, heaving at his bit of dung & imagining he is re-modeling the world & is entirely capable of doing it right. Ignorance, intolerance, egotism, self-assertion, opaque perception, dense & pitiful chuckle-headedness—& an almost pathetic unconsciousness of it all. That is what I was at 19–20; & that is what the average Southerner is at 60 to-day. Northerners, too, of a certain grade. It is of children like this that voters are made. And such is the primal source of our government! A man hardly knows whether to swear or cry over it.   -- Mark Twain letter to Jacob H. Burrough, November 1876.

Read about the projects in BioCycle

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