Living Lightly

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You’ll have to forgive the good people of Europe’s cities for wondering what that strange man with the camera is doing filming their recycling containers, bicycle stands and tramlines. I have been making my way across parts of France and Germany since early March, taking notes and pictures of how people are living on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. I’ll be at it until late May, when I’ll return home with a large collection of images and stories of people, companies and cities taking steps to live more lightly.

I started in Berlin, where I attended the conference Sun and Sense 2008, organized by the solar energy advocacy organization EuroSolar and the German ministry of energy, transport and housing. Germany is miles ahead of other countries in developing and adopting solar energy for heating homes, heating water and generating electricity. Driven by a dynamic politician named Herman Scheer and a large number of engineers and architects, such as Freiburg’s Rolf Disch, Germany now has more installed solar energy systems than any other country in the world.

These are not simply buy accutane youtube “hobby” installations that provide a bit of power but ultimately don’t really amount to much. Many homes and offices are actually generating more power than they use. There is an entire “solar suburb” outside Freiburg, where most of the homes and buildings are making an energy profit, selling to the power utility at a preferential rate. This so-called “feed-in tariff” is one of Herman Scheer’s big accomplishments, and is one of the keys to solar energy taking off in Germany.

As the European hub of solar energy activity, Germany’s technology, design skills and example has helped to drive recent growth in such neighbouring countries as Switzerland, Austria and France. I will be visiting many cities and regions in these countries and others this spring, and reporting back with facts, photos and the occasional video of what I am seeing and learning.

I am visiting Freiburg in late April, and can hardly wait. Homes generating more energy than they consume? In a country not known as one of Europe’s sunny vacation destinations? This I have to see closer up.

Living Lightly in Berlin,
David