The recent G8 Summit achieved one important result. It showed thattoo many of our leaders still think energy "security" can be achievedby calling for an increase in the rate of oil extraction at the expenseof human and ecosystem health.

They are looking for security inthe wrong places. For a real lesson in energy security, and a glimpseof the healthy local economy of the future, they could start with asmall town in Germany, just one of many in northern Europe that arecharting a course toward true energy autonomy, based on renewablesources of energy.

Freiamt is a cluster of villages of 4,300 people in the BlackForest. Its economy is dominated by farming, tourism and small-scaleforestry. For the burghers of Freiamt, questions of "the environment"come down to how to ensure that the soil, forests, water, air andnatural beauty of the region are preserved and yet still harnessed tomaximize economic and social benefit.

The same converging forcesthreatening towns and cities globally {shrinking natural resources,peaking supplies of oil and uranium, climate change and tighteningcompetition for all of these as a result of population growth}, makeFreiamt as potentially vulnerable as any other community. Butvulnerable is not in the vocabulary of the people of Freiamt.

Forthe last five years, Freiamt has been pursuing the goal of total energyself-sufficiency. While the strategy is still young, it is clearlyworking, in a way that defies conventional beliefs, not just in Canadaand the rest of the G8, but in parts of Germany as well. At least thoseparts that still believe that energy security lies in big generationstations, big energy companies and big investment.

Proving that"small is beautiful," Freiamt generates so much power from itssmall-scale renewable sources that it is turning an annual profit. Itdid so by adding four wind turbines and 800 rooftop photovoltaicsystems to its existing small-scale hydro and biomass installations.Freiamt now generates 13 million kilowatt hours of power. Since it onlyconsumes 10 million locally, the surplus three million are sold toother parts of Germany via the national grid, generating income forresidents and businesses.

The Freiamt story is as much about"power" as energy. Although much of the technical expertise and all ofthe equipment comes from outside Freiamt, the citizens were adamantthat they wanted to own their future, by owning and controlling theturbines and the rooftop photovoltaic {PV} and solar thermalinstallations. The wind turbines are jointly owned, as are many of thesolar panel arrays on buildings such as the soccer clubhouse. Other PVsystems are privately owned and installed on homes, barns and garages.

Biogasdigesters have been built on several farm properties in a joint "co-op"arrangement whereby a group of citizens invests together, spreads therisk and shares the revenue. In addition to earning a significantreturn for the investors, these biogas systems have provided a holisticsolution to the problems of farm waste that can pollute rural watersupplies and emit greenhouse gasses such as methane.