Germany assists US Cities in 'Going German Green'

Cleveland, Ohio - American cities large and small are racing to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels, while civic leaders and developers are discovering that "Going German Green" makes good business sense and could play a major role between Presidential Candidates Barack Obama and John McCain.

The Ohio German American Business Association (OhioGABA) leaders called the announcement of a Cleveland-based German wind power developer juwi Gmbh, to develop 300 megawatts of wind power in the United States “…exactly what we’ve been working on with the trailblazers on the path to

sustainability, the US Network for EXPO 2000, a project of the International Center for Environmental Arts (ICEA).”

The unit, juwi Wind US Corp., and Schneider Power USA Inc. of New York jointly plan to develop $750 million to $850 million of wind power projects in the Northeast, Midwest and Texas. The German firm earlier this year won a $1 million contract from the Great Lakes Energy Development Task Force to study wind off Lake Erie.
“Development of a facility here should be able to complete even better on an international market because the (manufacturing and shipping) costs here are substantially lower. To get the turbine itself from someplace in Europe to the U.S. is very expensive.” OhioGABA President David Jakupca said. “This is all about real manufacturing jobs. This is the anchor we needed out there and we want to support it,” says Jakupca.

Since Hannover, Germany hosted EXPO2000 the World’s Fair in 2000, Germany has become one of the strongest wind power markets in world. In bare figures, wind power already meets more than 30 percent of the electricity demand in the German states Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania whils in the US last year, only 0.36 percent of the nation's electricity production came from wind energy according to US DOE spokeswoman Louise Guey-Lee.

"Going German Green" is no longer the wave of the future, says OhioGABA VP Reiner Mueller - there is no shortage of new technical developments on the German market"

But OhioGABA’s purpose also encourages sustainability skills training and the promotion of iceality - the 'whole system thinking' which is so vital to success in this area. It is also about jobs and addressing quality of life and wellbeing.

The one giant Wind Turbine Generator (WTG) at the Cleveland Great Lakes Science Center is being proposed to be turned into a national monument to America’s participation in EXPO2000 - The Worlds Fair, held in Hannover, Germany. "We are proud of the way our engineers have successfully realized these new visions from EXPO2000" - Kurt Armstrong, OhioGABA’s External Affairs VP stated. “In a symbolic gesture, the aim of the EXPO2000 WTG monument is to provide Cleveland with a worthwhile and a unifying part of the growing global movement in ecotourism and sustainability.”