Center for Advanced BioEnergy Research, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

World eyes German efforts to become leader in reneable energy resources

The Washington Post
By Associated Press, Published: December 29

FELDHEIM, Germany — This tiny village in a wind-swept corner of eastern Germany seems an unlikely place for a revolution.

Yet environmentalists, experts and politicians from El Salvador to Japan to South Africa have flocked here in the past year to learn how Feldheim, with just 145 people, is already putting into practice Germany’s vision of a future powered entirely by renewable energy.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government passed legislation in June setting the country on course to generate a third of its power through renewable sources — such as wind, solar, geothermal and bioenergy — within a decade, reaching 80 percent by 2050, while creating jobs, increasing energy security and reducing harmful emissions.

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