Islands face serious risks as the environment is going unclean and full of greenhouse gases. The imbalance in nature causes sea levels to rise and storms to attack, which then becomes a threat for the inhabitants of islands. Considering such possible future threats, many islands have started going the renewables way. Some of these islands have also started to lead the world scenario in terms of their complete dependence on clean energy sources. Check out the top islands that are moving in this eco-friendly direction.
Tokelau
It is a very small island in South Pacific that is just as high as 17 feet from the sea level. The island started making eco-friendly efforts a few years ago, and in 2011, they declared that their entire nation would be 100% powered by the energy from renewables. Within a year, the country met its declared goal. Before going 100% renewables way, this island was being powered by diesel generators.
This was not only causing them an expense of around $800,000 per year, but was also burning huge amounts of diesel every day and highly polluting the environment. On top of it, their energy demands were not being met satisfactorily. Thus, they turned to solar energy and installed solar panels and batteries to generate electricity. This clean power now meets much more than their demands. In addition, they have been largely saving the environment from carbon emissions.
El Hierro
Based in Spain, this small island is self-sufficient in generating clean power from the energy of wind and water. They have installed several wind farms that convert its energy into usable power. Wind, sunlight and water are all abundantly available on this island. They even use the fire energy from volcanoes. The island used to release tons of carbon dioxide in previous years. However, it slowly replaced its polluting power sources with hydroelectric sources and photovoltaic panels. This changed the face of this place forever.
Samso
It has been long since this island turned completely powered by clean energy. Since 1997, they have installed more than 20 wind turbines that are treated as resources in which people also have their share. These turbines are generating much more energy than that required by the 4,000 inhabitants of this island.
There are several islands that are decreasing their dependence on fossil fuels for generating power and keeping the environment clean by adopting renewable sources of energy generation.
