|
Kiel, Germany: Differences and Similarities
with Iowa
Riding through the countryside of northern Germany is
much like a ride through Iowa. That only disguises a couple of
important differences.
One difference: The state of Schleswig Holstein gets 18 percent of its
electricity from wind power, while Iowa is getting only 2 percent. Another
difference: The Germans in this area have plans to go to 50 percent, while
Iowa has no plans at all.
On this visit during the Green Bike Tour, our team met with Karl Martin
Hentschel, Minister of Finance and Energy in the State Parliament of
Schleswig-Holstein. The state is one of the most rural in Germany
with a population of 2.7 million people. Kiel, the largest city, has
230,000 people.
The landscape in this part of Germany looks much like Iowa. We rode our
bikes along fields of corn, small grain and oil crops. One can see why
early Iowa immigrants named the towns of Schleswig and Holstein after
their homeland. In addition to the crops, wind machines can frequently be
seen on the horizon.
Karl Martin Hentschel and his personal adviser, Lutz Oschmann, are
responsible for much of the development of wind power in this northern
part of Germany. They are also in charge of the new emphasis on producing
electricity and heat from biomass.
Currently the state receives 18 percent of its electricity from wind
energy during the year. In February of this year, wind power produced 50
percent of the statešs power needs and on February 26, wind power
supplied all of the electricity used by the entire state on that day. That
is one difference between Iowa and Schleswig-Holstein. Iowa currently
produces less than 3 percent of its electricity from wind power.
Besides his job as Minister in the coalition government, Mr. Hentschel is
head of the Green Party in the state. He told us that 15 years ago
people laughed at the Greens when they said that wind energy could provide
substantial energy.
Wind power has been a shot in the arm for the German economy. In addition
to making the country less dependent on imported fuels, wind-machine
manufacturing and installation have created many jobs. The industry
is now second to the automobile industry in the demand for steel in
Germany. Shipbuilding was formerly the second-largest consumer of steel
but it has been displaced. In Husum, a city near Kiel, wind-machine
construction has been a welcome replacement for the declining
ship-building industry. One wind manufacturing plant has even taken over
the site of a failed shipbuilding manufacturer.
The state of Schleswig Holstein has a goal of providing 50 percent of its
electrical needs from wind energy by 2010. The present government
thinks this is very achievable if offshore wind development works out.
The other 50 percent of the energy will come from biomass and solar
energy. Organic waste from farms, homes and restaurants will be separated
to become the source of the biomass.
Iowa can learn a lot from this state of Germany. Farming is heavily
subsidized in Germany. New sources of income for farmers make them
more independent and can lead to lower taxes as the subsidies phase out.
Wind is called the farmeršs second harvest. Biomass will become a third.
-- David Osterberg
|
