Making Sweden an Oil-Free Society

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In 2005 the Swedish government announced their intention to become the first country to break their dependence on oil and other ‘fossil raw materials’ by 2020. In making this decision, four reasons were cited by the Government:

The impact of oil prices on Swedish ecomomic growth and employment;
The link between oil, peace and security throughout the world;
The great potential to use Sweden's own renewable energy resources in place of oil;
The threat of climate change resulting from the extensive burning of fossil fuels.

As of 2005, oil supplies provided about 32% of the country's energy supply, with nuclear power and hydroelectricity providing much of the remainder. Although it was not proposed to end the use of oil entirely, the 2020 date was seen as a marker on a continuing process of the "oil phase-out in Sweden".

Commission on Oil Independence

To make recommendations on how dependency on oil should be broken, the government created a Commission on Oil Independence (Kommissionen för att bryta oljeberoendet i Sverige till år 2020), headed by the then Prime Minister Göran Persson, which reported in June 2006.

In their report, the Commission proposed the following targets for 2020:

Consumption of oil in road transport to be reduced by 40-50 per cent.
Consumption of oil in industry to be cut by 25-40 per cent.
Heating buildings with oil, a practice already cut by 70% since the 1973 oil crisis, should be phased out
Overall, energy should be used 20% more efficiently

Replacing oil with renewable energy sources and energy conservation measures to cut total energy use was envisaged. This is also expected to result in cuts in carbon emissions and to strengthen the country's role in sustainable development technologies as well as increasing its international economic competitiveness.

Energy sources

Technical solutions under consideration include the further development of domestically grown biofuels, solar cells, fuel cells, wind farms, wave energy, a major increase in district heating schemes and greater use of heat pumps. It is expected that research, development and commercialization of such technologies should be supported by government.

The Commission is also recommending that the government should not sanction the creation of a national natural gas infrastructure, on the belief that this would inhibit the development of biofuels and encourage the use of gas in place of oil.

Energy use

To cut energy use, the commission anticipates that by 2020 at least 75% of all new housing would use low-energy building techniques similar to the German Passive house standard, and that it will also be necessary to modernize the existing housing stock, including replacing direct electric heating systems (with systems heated by district heating, biofuels or heat pumps).

They also expect there to be a greater use of teleworking, video conferencing and web conferencing, public transport, sea transport, hybrid vehicles, and smaller, lighter, biodiesel cars.

As part of reducing industrial consumption, it is proposed that carbon allowances issued in Sweden under the European Union Emission Trading Scheme should be cut to 75% of their initial levels by 2020.

The taxation system is also likely to be used to influence energy choices, together with education and public awareness initiatives.

Progress

On their release, the Commission's proposals were supported by the national automotive industry association, BIL Sweden. It was, however, opposed by the timber industry, who fear that land producing profitable exports may become used for low-income domestic biofuel production.

The prospects for the proposals are currently uncertain following the defeat of the Prime Minister's Swedish Social Democratic Party in September's 2006 Swedish general election. The Commission's proposals do remain, however, of international interest.

References

Prime Minister's Office Commission on Oil Independence. "Making Sweden an OIL-FREE Society". Retrieved 2007-02-13.
Akinsson, Alan (2006-08-16). "Letter from Sweden: Fossil Fuel-Free by 2020, Maybe". Worldchanging.com. Retrieved 2007-02-13.

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