The Austrian town of Gussing was once considered a forgotten outpost. Lying just 10 miles from the barbed-wire border of the Iron Curtain, Gussing started it’s transformation 15 years ago.

In 1992, the two was struggling to pay it’s 6 million Euro electricity bill. Public buildings were ordered not to use any more fossil fuels and an alternative energy industry was spawned. Since that year, over 50 companies and 1,000 jobs have been created in the town in the renewable energy sector alone. Since 1995, Gussing has reduced it’s carbon dioxide emissions by 93%. This compares to Vaxjo, a Swedish town which won the EU’s ‘Sustainable Community’ award this year because of cutting it’s emissions by 25% in the last decade.

So how did they do it?

The town mayor at the time, Peter Vadasz, hired electrical engineer Rheinhard Koch to find a way that the 4,000 people who lived in the two could benefit from the surrounding natural resources. From here, the renewable energy movement in the town began and today, Gussing generates around 22 megawatt hours of power annually. This is around 8 megawatt hours more than the town needs so the surplus is sold off the to national grid, helping generate around 4.7 million euros in revenue each year and a 500,000 euro profit which gets returned to the community through backing more alternative energy projects.

In 1992, one of the first steps towards alternative energy was a wood burning plant that provided heating for 27 houses. Then, a facility was added which turned rapeseed into car fuel. In 1998, Koch and Vadasz saw a technology pioneered by scientist Hermann Hofbauer which saw synthetic fuel created from wood. A local company licensed the technology (which uses steam to separate the hydrogen and carbon from the scrap wood then combines the molecules to form natural gas). The natural gas produced by the technology helps to fuel the town’s power plant.

With former US Vice-President Al Gore calling for everyone to reduce their carbon emissions by 90% by 2050, the town has proven that the target is entirely achievable. The European Environment Agency has said that out of the 27 members of the EU, they do not know of any other town who have achieved such astounding carbon emission reductions.

The only downside to the town is the reliance on wood and the town is having to take care that they look after the surrounding forest to ensure they have a good supply of renewable energy for the future. Solar power is a technology which the town will soon be using – a 50 million euro plant is being built near-by and should be finished next year sometime.

Meanwhile, extra income is being brought into the town through eco-tourism. Tourists flock from around the world to gain inspiration from the town. Keen to stay true to their eco-friendly roots, guests can stay in hotels that are heated by 30 kilometre long heating ducts which stretch across Gussing.

With oil prices surging and increasing dependence in the EU on imported Russian gas, many countries are looking to lower their reliance on oil for energy and many are looking to this little Austrian town as their inspiration.

Meanwhile, Peter Vadasz is still town mayor and is running for a fourth term come October.

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