[Peakoil] Sweden plans to be world's first oil-free economy

[David Jorm]

Very interesting. I used to live in Sweden and honestly believe if any
society can do it, they can. Iceland has made a similar pledge a while ago,
but I think their target was that within 30 years the only oil being burned
would be by aircraft; the rest would be geothermal, wave, wind, or hydrogen
derived from this renewable energy.

On 2/8/06, roland mccall <rolandmccall at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> *Sweden plans to be world's first oil-free economy*
>
> *·* 15-year limit set for switch to renewable energy
> *·* Biofuels favoured over further nuclear power
>
> *John Vidal, environment editor
> Wednesday February 8, 2006
> The Guardian <http://www.guardian.co.uk/>*
> Sweden is to take the biggest energy step of any advanced western economy
> by trying to wean itself off oil completely within 15 years - without
> building a new generation of nuclear power stations.
>
> The attempt by the country of 9 million people to become the world's first
> practically oil-free economy is being planned by a committee of
> industrialists, academics, farmers, car makers, civil servants and others,
> who will report to parliament in several months.
> The intention, the Swedish government said yesterday, is to replace all
> fossil fuels with renewables before climate change destroys economies and
> growing oil scarcity leads to huge new price rises.
> "Our dependency on oil should be broken by 2020," said Mona Sahlin,
> minister of sustainable development. "There shall always be better
> alternatives to oil, which means no house should need oil for heating, and
> no driver should need to turn solely to gasoline."
> According to the energy committee of the Royal Swedish Academy of
> Sciences, there is growing concern that global oil supplies are peaking and
> will shortly dwindle, and that a global economic recession could result from
> high oil prices.
> Ms Sahlin has described oil dependency as one of the greatest problems
> facing the world. "A Sweden free of fossil fuels would give us enormous
> advantages, not least by reducing the impact from fluctuations in oil
> prices," she said. "The price of oil has tripled since 1996."
>
> A government official said: "We want to be both mentally and technically
> prepared for a world without oil. The plan is a response to global climate
> change, rising petroleum prices and warnings by some experts that the world
> may soon be running out of oil."
>
> Sweden, which was badly hit by the oil price rises in the 1970s, now gets
> almost all its electricity from nuclear and hydroelectric power, and relies
> on fossil fuels mainly for transport. Almost all its heating has been
> converted in the past decade to schemes which distribute steam or hot water
> generated by geothermal energy or waste heat. A 1980 referendum decided that
> nuclear power should be phased out, but this has still not been finalised.
>
> The decision to abandon oil puts Sweden at the top of the world green
> league table. Iceland hopes by 2050 to power all its cars and boats with
> hydrogen made from electricity drawn from renewable resources, and Brazil
> intends to power 80% of its transport fleet with ethanol derived mainly from
> sugar cane within five years.
>
> Last week George Bush surprised analysts by saying that the US was
> addicted to oil and should greatly reduce imports from the Middle East. The
> US now plans a large increase in nuclear power.
>
> The British government, which is committed to generating 10% of its
> electricity from renewable sources by 2012, last month launched an energy
> review which has a specific remit to consider a large increase in nuclear
> power. But a report by accountants Ernst & Young yesterday said that the UK
> was falling behind in its attempt to meet its renewables target.
>
> "The UK has Europe's best wind, wave and tidal resources yet it continues
> to miss out on its economic potential," said Jonathan Johns, head of
> renewable energy at Ernst & Young.
>
> Energy ministry officials in Sweden said they expected the oil committee
> to recommend further development of biofuels derived from its massive
> forests, and by expanding other renewable energies such as wind and wave
> power.
>
> Sweden has a head start over most countries. In 2003, 26% of all the
> energy consumed came from renewable sources - the EU average is 6%. Only 32%
> of the energy came from oil - down from 77% in 1970.
>
> The Swedish government is working with carmakers Saab and Volvo to develop
> cars and lorries that burn ethanol and other biofuels. Last year the Swedish
> energy agency said it planned to get the public sector to move out of oil.
> Its health and library services are being given grants to convert from oil
> use and homeowners are being encouraged with green taxes. The paper and pulp
> industries use bark to produce energy, and sawmills burn wood chips and
> sawdust to generate power.
>
>
>
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