World News for Students of English

08-06-2026 07:00

When international problems made energy and electricity very expensive in Europe, most people had to pay a lot of money.

But a small village in Germany called Feldheim didn’t have this problem. The 130 people who live there pay a very low price for electricity because they make it themselves. The village uses wind turbines, a large solar park, and a biogas plant, which uses corn and waste from local cows and pigs. Together, these systems make much more energy than the village needs, so they sell the extra energy to get money. They even built their own wires and grid because the big power companies didn’t want to help them. A big battery also helps keep the electricity working when the weather changes.

Feldheim is a great example of how a small, clever community can use clean nature to have cheap energy and be independent.

Difficult words: turbine (a large machine with blades which turn around using wind, water, or steam to make electricity), biogas (gas made naturally from old plants or animal waste), grid (power lines and wires which carry electricity from power stations to houses and buildings).

You can watch the original video in the Level 3 section.