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After the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, a small group led by Michael and Ursula Sladek founded the 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 on saving energy and getting others to 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 founded the first German green power utility, the Elektrizitätswerke Schönau (EWS), in 1994.[5] They took over providing power for the community in 1997.[5][3][6][7] With a system that combined efficiency and power-saving strategies, 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][8]
