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A village is remodeling.
In the small town of Gädebehn in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, construction workers are laying pipes that could supply the entire village with locally generated, CO2-neutral heat in the long term.
Original sound from Heiner von Osten-Sacken: This is where this local heat comes out, this pipe. And there is a flow and a return in there and this pipe still has to be inserted into the building, and there will then be a heat emission station, where the amount of heat will also be counted and this will ensure that the house is supplied with heat from our wood chip heating system.
The manor house of the von Osten-Sacken family is the center of the local heating network in the village.
Where in large cities huge cogeneration plants produce district heating for entire districts, in Gädebehn this wood chip heating system is sufficient.
It's in the basement of the house.
Heiner von Osten-Sacken and his son Julius also want to set an example in terms of energy transition.
Pipelines will soon be supplying 50 households in the village with heat from here.
- soon also a rental house from the 70 years.
This also pleases the mayor of the small village.
O-Ton Mayor Sebastian Henke: "Well, that's the old oil heating system. It's going to be thrown out, will be completely dismantled and disposed of with the tanks, which are one step further up the stairs. Here, where we can already see the local heating line, with the control line, comes the transfer station and then the connection just has to be created from the transfer station to our distributor, and the new building for 32 units (residential units) is supplied with local heating.
The wood for the woodchip heating comes from a nearby forest - the owners use waste products from forestry for their mini power plant.
Original sound from Heiner von Osten-Sacken: We sold the beech logs for recycling. But we let the crown wood go together, and it says, it's piled up here behind us. This is chopped and then used as a heat source in the woodchip heating system.
The villagers see an advantage in the district heating supply not only because of the high energy prices and the uncertainty about Russian gas supplies:
O-Ton Bürger: We were actually in favor right away, and when we hear the news now, gas is getting more expensive, you don't know how much gas is arriving here. That's a good solution
O-Ton Bürgerin: That was very well received. So almost the whole village takes part. And the village community grows together quite nicely. We're really happy about that.
Local heating for Gädebehn - a small step to reduce concerns about an energy shortage in winter.
And to make Germany less dependent on fossil fuels.