A couple of weeks ago I wrote this article Dean Kamen, the famous inventor who was attempting to make his private island completely independent. Apparently Kamen, who has invented the segway among other devices, has succeeded in his effort.

Kamen who owns North Dumpling Island left the work up to Philips Color Kinetics who refitted the island with LED lighting inside and out. This alone reportedly cut energy consumption by about 70%. He was able to do this without damaging the night time illumination of his on-site stonehenge replica!

In order to meet his newly reduced energy needs Kamen harnessed solar and wind power which is now able to power his entire. island. What I love about this story is despite being very wealthy he used very pragmatic solutions to meet his energy needs.  These are all solutions that could be easily implemented on any island, or in any community for that matter.