Bioenergiedorf Jühnde eG
The village of Jühnde in Lower Saxony has become Germany’s first “bio-energy village.” It obtains all its electricity and heating from locally grown bio fuel and waste plant material. The village power plant comprises a biogas plant capable of producing 4.000,000 kWh of energy annually alongside an additional biomass heating system. A district-heating network pipes heat to 140 individual households. Excess electricity and heat is sold and brings the village an (albeit government subsidized) income of some 800.000 Euro per year as well as saving around 3.300 tons of CO2. The Federal Ministry of Food Agriculture and Consumer Protection supported the project with a three million Euro grant. It represents an increasingly common form of grass roots initiative plus government support where communities, families, companies and individuals all over Germany commit themselves to trying out new sustainable options that the rest of us can perhaps benefit from later.
