Louis Ewald wrote on 08/06/14 at 11:21:53:

Presently Nordwalde is at 55%, far behind neighbour village Altenberge's 85%. So the race seems almost "lost". ( http://www.energymap.info/energieregionen/DE/105/117/183/214/13554.html ).

But my post was a bit naive. It is quite easy to achieve this "virtual" form of energy independence for rural places. They have an abundance of space. An equivalent amount of facilities for biomass or wind energy is simply not available for large cities. Today I live in Pforzheim, a town of 116,000, and they generate "only" renewable electricity equivalent to 23% of the power which they consume. 

http://www.energymap.info/energieregionen/DE/105/110/160/353/22432.html

Looking at the details for Pforzheim, I notice there are no wind turbines at all. Lack of wind, of course. Plenty of wind in the agricultural deserts of the Northwest...

An attractive thought, but Hellquist's "Svensk Etymologisk Ordbok" (1922 - available on Project Runeberg), derives "Galen" from "Gala", in the meaning of acting as if being bewitched.

TalJechin wrote on 10/21/11 at 08:53:02:

Stefan Buecker wrote on 10/20/11 at 10:25:36:

Only if you take the inhabitants of the Binnenhof with it. Heck we wouldnt need anything in return.

Stefan Buecker wrote on 10/20/11 at 05:41:56:

We Dutchies know about Münster - the war of 1672 and Bishop Bernhard von Galen, in the Netherlands known as Bommen Berend (Bernie of the Bombs). The city of Groningen still commemorates his name on August 28th every year.
At the other hand there is the Piece of Münster, ending the Eighty Years War.
Like the town of Geldern Münster is so strongly connected with the birth of the Netherlands that we should annexate it.

Once I played for the chess team of Dortmund-Brackel. Dortmund has done more than other Ruhr area cities for a greener image. And it has the "Zeitungsforschungsinstitut", ideal to research old chess columns in German newspapers.

To a certain extent all big cities are industrial and ugly. Some have the luck to include water (Hamburg, Kiel, Amsterdam) which detracts from the not so nice areas. A larger city near Nordwalde is Münster - it has the Aasee, a green oasis surprisingly close to the center. Münster lately won the competition for the "least noisy German city".

MNb wrote on 10/19/11 at 16:56:50:

I doubt they would put up industrial pictures at Wiki, bad for tourism (if there is any in Dortmund). 
But you have to remember that Dortmund and the likes (also nearby Lunen) are very big in area due to them having Kreisen (sort of agglomeration of cities and villages), so there is bound to be more green than say in Amsterdam. Ie in Luenen there are 2 coal plants in a circle of 5 km, yet there is a lot of agriculture and small forestation. On the other hand if you drive from Lunen center to Dortmund center you can easily do this without passing any green areas.

Btw Solar and wind arent renewable, once the energy is used it is gone. Unlike coal, which actually is renewable, though of course you need a little patience in order for it to renew

MNb wrote on 10/19/11 at 10:08:37:

Not prejudice. I work there quite often (Dortmund/Hamm).

http://lisafreiburg.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/img_7864.jpg