We make things happen

From Best to Next Practise III on Samsø

From the 29^th of April until 1^st of May, 2015, the Energy Academy along with our local partners, met with our network and collaborators from around the world. The symposium was a joyful reunion of previous participants and an exciting meeting with new partners.

This year we talked about the power of community in relation to three basic and important themes: Nature, Education and Fossil Free Island. Several issues stand out: between the city and the countryside, the peripheral and the central regions and between development and decommissioning. As an island community, it is crucial that our partners help us chart a course for the future if we are to reach our goal of becoming fossil free island by 2030.

Plenty of good stories were told and experiences passed on, which inspired us all to embark on a course for the next years’ work in order to reach our goal of making Samsø fossil free by 2030.

Samsø Energy Academy on the mainland

Samsø is special place – and this is something they have discovered on the mainland of Denmark.

Samsø Energy Academy is working on a number of projects in collaboration with partners in Jutland, who wish to get a taste of Samsø – not the taste of the famous potatoes, strawberries or other local delicacies, but of the knowledge about energy, sustainable solutions, citizen participation and everything else the Energy Academy stand for.

In order for us to ensure continuity and attend to our engagements on the mainland, the Energy Academy has become part of an office community, Mediedokken, located at Aarhus harbour with a view of Samsø.  Our focus in Aarhus is to convey and develop the Energy Academy’s vision of becoming fossil free by 2030, in collaboration with our partners on the mainland.

Moreover, the Energy Academy has entered into a partnership with Aarhus 2017 – European Capital of Culture, to help ensure that Aarhus 2017 reach their goal of making sustainability one of their core value.

Specifically, the Energy Academy and the sustainability bureau World Perfect will inspire and assist Aarhus 2017-projects in the region in their effort to make sustainability a visible part of their activities.

Some of the projects which the Energy Academy is already working on are Rethink Urban Habitat, in which the Natural History Museum is demonstrating the extensive biodiversity in the cities; ReUse – a new and different recycling centre in the middle of Aarhus; and Rethink Summerhouse (Gentænk Sommerhuset), a project turning summer houses into accommodation for surfers on the west coast of Denmark.

All of these projects, in which the Energy Academy’s office in Aarhus takes part, are associated with Samsø, and many of them receive national and international attention. Hopefully, this means that a great number of people hear about Samsø and may even decide to visit our special island in the middle of Denmark.