Michael Sladek | |
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Born | Murrhardt, Germany | 1 October 1946
Died | 24 September 2024 Schönau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany | (aged 77)
Occupations |
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Known for | Schönau Power Supply Company |
Spouse | Ursula Sladek |
Children | 5 |
Awards |
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Michael Sladek (1 October 1946 – 24 September 2024) was a German physician and environmentalist for distributed mini power plants of green power.
Life and career
Sladek was born in Murrhardt in 1946. He studied medicine at the University of Freiburg. He became a physician for general medicine in Schönau in 1977.[1][2] He and his wife Ursula, a former primary school teacher, had three children then, two more children were born in Schönau.[2][3][4] After the 1986 Chernobyl disaster the Sladeks and a small group of others founded Parents for a Nuclear Free Future group, to research how they could limit the community's dependence on nuclear power.[3] Their first approach was saving energy and make others save energy. They reactivated small hydropower plants in the region.[3] The couple developed the idea of a power system independent of nuclear power plants, generating electric power through distributed mini power plants from renewable sources.[4] After ten years of campaigning and raising awareness, they achieved the first German green power, the EWS Schönau, in 1994.[1] They took over the power for the community in 1997.[1][3][5][6] With a system that combined an efficiency-strategy with a power saving strategy it became possible to satisfy the power consumption of the community. Schönau was the first community in a Western country that became independent of the national power grid and could decide how its power would be produced.[4][7] In 2015 he and his wife left the leadership of EWS, succeeded by two of their sons.[1]
Sladek was awarded the 1996 WMF Umweltpreis from the German magazine Capital. In 1999 he and his wife were awarded the Nuclear-Free Future Award. In January 2004, the Sladek couple was awarded the highest order in Germany, the Federal Cross of Merit, for their great engagement for the environment.[6]
Sladek died on 17 September 2024, at the age of 77.[1][2]
Honours
- 1999: Nuclear-Free Future Award together with his wife
- 2004: Federal Cross of Merit, together with his wife[6]
- 2007: German Founder Award[8]
- 2012: Order of Merit of the State of Baden-Württemberg, together with his wife
References
- ^ a b c d e "Vordenker der Energiewende". taz (in German). 26 September 2024. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
- ^ a b c "Wir trauern um Michael Sladek". EWS Schönau (in German). September 2024. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
- ^ a b c d Mistiaen, Veronique (20 May 2011). "Ursula Sladek: Power behind a green revolution". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
- ^ a b c Eckardt, Andy (20 May 2011). "German couple make greenbacks in anti-nuke battle". MSN. Archived from the original on 2 June 2011. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
- ^ "Community Energy Cooperative: Schönau, Germany". Centre For Public Impact (CPI). Retrieved 21 July 2021.
- ^ a b c "Rebellen bekommen Bundesverdienstkreuz". energieverbraucher.de (in German). 15 January 2004. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
- ^ "Peaceful Rebels". The Atlantic Times. November 2008. Archived from the original on 19 August 2011. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
- ^ Colell, Arwen (2021). Alternating Current - Social Innovation in Community Energy. Berlin: Springer. p. 245.