Michael Sladek (born 1946 in

Murrhardt Murrhardt is a town in the Rems-Murr district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located 12 km east of Backnang, and 18 km southwest of Schwäbisch Hall. The source of the Murr is situated in Murrhardt. Local council (Gemeinder ...

) is a German doctor and bearer of the

Federal Cross of Merit The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

Life

He became famous by realising a grid-independent system for producing electricity, by distributed little power plants. For this he was awarded 1996 by the German magazine ''Capital'' with the Capital/ WWF - Umweltpreis. In 1999 he and his wife

Ursula Sladek Ursula Sladek (born 6 September 1946) owns a small local power company, Schönau Power Supply, located in Schönau im Schwarzwald, Germany, that provides electricity from renewable energy sources to the German electricity grid. Her company "gets muc ...

were awarded with the

Nuclear-Free Future Award Since 1998 the Nuclear-Free Future Award (NFFA) is an award given to anti-nuclear activists, organizations and communities. The award is intended to promote opposition to uranium mining, nuclear weapons and nuclear power. The NFFA is a project of ...

. 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. After the Chernobyl catastrophe in 1986, he became known for his idea of a system independent of nuclear power plants for generating electric power through distributed mini power plants. With his system that combines an efficiency-strategy with a power saving strategy it became possible to satisfy the power consumption of the community Schönau in the Black-Forest. Following his engagement supported by his wife and many friends the first German green power-provider came into existence, the EWS Schönau. The community of Schönau was the first community on Earth in a Western civilised country that became independent of the national power grid and could decide how the power will be produced.

Honors

* 2004: Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon, together with his wife *2007: German Founder Award *2012: Order of Merit of the State of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

, together with his wife

References

1946 births Living people Physicians from Baden-Württemberg German environmentalists Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg {{environmentalist-stub

Life

Honors

See also

References