Seeking a low-carbon future.

• Author: Block, Ben
• Position: WORLDWATCH FIRST PERSON - Essay

As I traveled through the German and Danish countryside this past August, driving past forest corridors and harvested fields, the landscape seemed not to have changed for centuries. The exception, of course, was the wind farms. I spotted the spinning white towers with nearly every glance from my window. On several occasions, a single farm had installed more wind turbines than my entire home state of Maryland.

Along with six other U.S. journalists, I was participating in a tour of the countries' low-carbon advances. The trip provided a glimpse of how a renewable energy future may look. My ideal vision would line hilltops and seashores with windmills, power homes with sunlight, and heat farmhouses with energy from cow manure. I realize the vision is a bit rosy, even for Germany and Denmark. Although renewable energies such as wind, solar, and biogas are spreading, these technologies are too frequently beyond financial reach.

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