`Dead-End' Austrian Town Fuels Boom With Green Energy
For decades, the Austrian town of Gussing was a forgotten outpost...Now it's at the edge of a greener frontier: alternative energy. Gussing is the first community in the European Union to cut carbon emissions by more than 90 percent...
...`This was a dead-end town and now we're the center of attention,'' says Maria Hofer, 55, a lifelong resident, as she buys organic vegetables at a farmer's market. ``It seems like every week we read about new jobs from renewable energy.''...
...The town could hardly afford its 6 million-euro ($8.1 million) fuel bill when Peter Vadasz, 63, was first elected mayor in 1992....Today, Gussing generates 22 megawatt hours of power a year, including an 8 megawatt surplus that is sold to the national grid...
...``Just to turn to renewable energy brought advantages we didn't dream of before,'' says Vadasz, a former schoolteacher. ``A lot of money that left before, now stays in the region.''...``People here feel less vulnerable because they know their energy's coming from renewable sources and not imports,'' Vadasz says. ``This should be the top priority of anyone who goes into politics, anywhere in the world.''
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