"My ideal is not to burn oil often and spoil the environment" says Erik, one of the island's 4000 farmers. They all welcomed the move towards green energy with unexpected enthusiasm. Erik's heating and electricity are produced by solar panels while his tractor and car run on homemade rapeseed oil. For Soren Hermansen of Samso's Energy Academy, it's people like Erik who make the greatest difference: "You should think local and act local, and forget about the global. If somebody is doing something significant, that will be spread all over the world in no time." For Samso, this model certainly works: 75% of the island's heating comes from solar power and biomass systems. Renewable energy has enabled it to become self-sufficient and even to sell back electricity to the mainland.