World News for Students of English

08-06-2026 07:00

While energy crises and international problems have caused energy prices to rise across Europe, the small German village of Feldheim has remained unaffected.

The village, which has only 130 residents, is completely energy self-sufficient and pays extremely low prices for electricity. Feldheim produces its own power and heating using a combination of local wind turbines, a solar park built on an old military site, a backup wood chip boiler, and a biogas plant that uses corn and manure from local farms. These installations produce much more clean energy than the village actually needs, which allows the community to sell the extra electricity back to the national grid. To keep their energy system stable, they also use a large ten-megawatt battery storage facility.

When major utility companies originally refused to cooperate, the residents showed creative thinking and built their own local electricity grid. Experts point out that while this model is highly successful due to Feldheim’s great location and good community, it might be difficult to copy everywhere, especially in big cities. However, Feldheim serves as a perfect example of how local renewable energy can bring huge financial and environmental benefits.

Difficult words: backup (an extra person, machine, or plan that is ready to help if the main one fails), manure (animal waste used to help plants grow), utility (a company that supplies public services like electricity, gas, or water to homes).

You can watch the video news lower on this page.