Career
Her company "gets much of its energy from small local energy producers, including a handful of hydropower operations, solar panels, some wind turbines, and about 20 washing-machine-size co-generation plants in people’s homes that produce both heat for the home and electricity for the grid". Her children could not play outdoors for two weeks. 25 years later, that forest’s mushrooms are still considered unsafe.
Trained as a schoolteacher, Sladek began to study the energy industry in Germany to see if there were ways to decrease dependence on nuclear power.
In 1991, when the previous power company"s lease to supply power to the Schönau region was up for renewal, Sladek and her partners began a nationwide fundraising effort to enable them to take ownership of the local power grid. They were able to raise 6 million Doctor of Medicine (about 3 million Euros) and by 1997 had established the Schönau Power Supply as a community operated energy provider committed to a sustainabie energy future.
The Schönau Power Supply uses a decentralized approach to power generation, and makes use of renewable energy sources, including solar, hydroelectric, wind power, and biomass. The company is operated as a cooperative.
While the cooperative owners receive dividends, the majority of the profits are re-invested in renewable energy sources.
Total revenues reached 67 million Euros in 2009.
