German City Wonders How Green Is Too Green

MARBURG, Germany — This fairy-tale town is stuck in the middle of a utopian struggle over renewable energy. The town council’s decision to require solar-heating panels has thrown Marburg into a vehement debate over the boundaries of ecological good citizenship and led opponents to charge that their genteel town has turned into a “green dictatorship.”

Old and new coexist in Marburg, where a hilltop castle overlooks a solar-powered building. The city seeks to expand solar use.

Some Marburg residents are concerned about how pending solar rules will affect historic buildings like these in the city center.

Officials in Marburg face opposition over a solar initiative.The town council took the significant step in June of moving from merely encouraging citizens to install solar panels to making them an obligation. The ordinance, the first of its kind in Germany, will require solar panels not only on new buildings, which fewer people oppose, but also on existing homes that undergo renovations or get new heating systems or roof repairs.

To give the regulation teeth, a fine of 1,000 euros, about $1,500, awaits those who do not comply.

Critics howled that the rule, which is to go into effect on Oct. 1, constituted an attack on the rights of property owners. The regional government in Giessen stepped in and warned that it would overturn the rule.

City officials in Marburg said, in turn, that they would take their case either to administrative court or all the way to the Hessian state capital, where they would try to get the state building code changed to protect their ordinance from officials in Giessen.

In the middle of this political chess match sit homeowners like G?tz Sch?nherr.

From his deck, Mr. Sch?nherr can see the town’s famous hilltop Gothic castle as well as two of its three power-generating windmills. On his roof, a solar panel glints in the sunlight. He already uses the solar energy to heat his water, which has allowed him to turn off his boiler for roughly six months a year, a boon for his pocketbook but a decision he said he made for the sake of the environment.

And yet Mr. Sch?nherr opposes the new ordinance.

Mr. Sch?nherr had hoped to reinsulate his home, but to do so, and to satisfy the solar regulation, he would have to install a larger solar

德国城市担心环保过了头

德国马尔堡—这座童话般的城镇卷入了争用可再生能源上的乌托邦似的斗争之中。镇议会决定采用太阳加热嵌板的决定在马尔堡（Marburg）引起激烈辩论，辩论的焦点在于生态好市民的界限究竟在哪儿，这让反对者指责说“他们幽雅的城镇已经成了“环保独裁”的城镇.

在新城旧镇共存的马尔堡, 一座建在小山顶的城堡脚下就有一幛使用太阳能的建筑物。 该镇正积极寻求推广使用太阳能。

一些马尔堡居民关心尚未敲定的使用太阳能的条例会对处在市中心中的像这些历史性的建筑物有多少影响。

马尔堡市的官员们面临反对派反对率先使用太阳能。市议会六月份，采取了强硬措施，从开始只是鼓励市民安装太阳能嵌板，到强制他们安装太阳能嵌板。开德国法律先河的的这一法令, 不仅要求新建筑物要安装太阳能嵌板，而且要求不管是经过翻修的，还是安装新的暖气系统的，或是屋顶经过修补的现有住宅也要安装太阳能嵌板, 前者反对者较少。

对那些不遵守规定的人,以牙还牙，罚款 1,000个欧元的,约 $1,500,。

,该法令 要在十月 一日开始生效,构成了财产拥有者的财产权构成一定的侵害，遭致批评声此起彼伏。 位于吉森的地方政府出面警告说它会否决该法令。

马尔堡市的官员们接二连三地表态说, 他们也会带上他们的诉请到行政法庭上诉，一路上诉，直至黑森州法院, 他们会在那里尽力敦促州政府改变已有建筑标准，以保护他们在吉森州设立的法令不被某些官员否决。

在这厂政治象棋比赛中，住宅者都是些象舒马赫那类的人。

从他的阳台板上，舒马赫先生一眼就能看见城里出了名的，立于山顶的哥德式城堡，还有它的三台发电用的风车。 在他的屋顶之上，太阳的嵌板在日光下熠熠发亮。他已经使用太阳能他的水加热, 这样一年中大约就有六个月,他可以关掉锅炉了。这对他的钱包真是一个恩惠。但是他说是为了保护环境才做的这个决定。

因此舒马赫先生仍然反对这条新法令。

舒马赫先生早就希望给他的房子再装一层隔离层，但后来为了迎合使用太阳能法规,他得安装一个更大的太阳嵌板。它会花费他近8,000美圆.