Sweden Oil-free by 2020
The country that brought us Volvo, Saab, ABBA, and Aqua are preparing their latest export: freedom from
oil. According to John Vidal of the U.K. news source The Guardian, Sweden has been preparing for months to move away from an oil-based infrastructure, a first among the major Western powers. This goal is in response to environmental concerns and dwindling oil resources. Says Mona Sahlin, minister of sustainable development, “"a Sweden free of fossil fuels would give us enormous advantages, not least by reducing the impact from fluctuations in oil prices. The price of oil has tripled since 1996."
The country plans to be practically oil-free by the year 2020. Currently, fossil fuels are used primarily in transportation with hydroelectric and nuclear energy sources providing much of the country’s electrical needs. Biofuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel, are being considered as oil-replacements.
Other countries with goals to move away from oil use include Iceland and Brazil.
[Thanks, Kent!]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Stig N?ard F?h 8:10AM (2/19/2006)
"The country that brought us Volvo, Saab, ABBA, and Aqua are preparing their latest export: freedom from oil."
Aqua wasn't Swedish. It was 3/4 Danish and 1/4 Norwegian.
/Stig
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franke 8:38AM (2/19/2006)
All this is fine, great, but ethanol isnt really gone solve any problems. At least not now when the majority of the ethanol is beiing imported from Brazil where they get it from sugarcanes. Just transporting it to Europe costs money and burns oil!
Iceland on the other hand has a lot good things going on with hydrogen.
/swede
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Tim UF 9:25AM (2/19/2006)
doesn't biodiesel (i doubt ethanol would, since you cant freeze vodka in a plain freezer) gunk up and solidify in the cold? i ask, because sweden is roughly at the same lattitudes as alaska, so it likely gets rather cold there...
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Chris 9:57AM (2/19/2006)
Finally a country who's says they're going to move away from oil, and actually freaking sets up a plan how they'll do it.
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Marty 10:47AM (2/19/2006)
Sweden is the greatest country in the world!
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Bob 10:53AM (2/19/2006)
Iceland is moving to an all hydrogen economy. The problem is that the major player in that switch is Shell. Their plan is to generate hydrogen from natural gas - still a fossil fuel. Why doesn't anyone focus on hydrogen from sea water? You know why...Not enough profit from cheap abundant fuel.
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AES 1:19PM (2/19/2006)
I'm sort of wondering how this will affect the swedish car manufacturers - Volvo, Saab, and Koenigsegg. They're owned by American companies, and the majority of their market is outside of Sweden. Will they continue to make oil-powered vehicles?
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AES 1:21PM (2/19/2006)
Sorry, I made a mistake. Koenigsegg is still independent, as far as I know.
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Doug 2:28PM (2/19/2006)
Awesome, more oil for the rest of us!
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JGN 2:41PM (2/19/2006)
Hey #2
"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 per cent of its transport fleet with ethanol derived mainly from sugar cane within five years."
Sweden is not going to import Ethanol from Brazil, it is going to use hydrogen produced through renewable resources.
Good for them, it would be nice if there were that level of consciousness here.
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far jr 3:29PM (2/19/2006)
Hydro power is great but does anyone know what Sweden does with its spent nuclear fuel rods from the nuclear plants?
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Kevin Trains 4:01PM (2/19/2006)
wont ethanol or whatever thyre gonna use run out down the road just like oil? I'll bt a lot of people arent in favor of just a quick fix, even if it does last more than 3 generations.
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Puff Chippy 7:20PM (2/19/2006)
Sweden vows to go oil-free and the U.S. vows to drill more wells in Alaska and the Florida coast. Thanks for the visionary leadership George.
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marko 10:21PM (2/19/2006)
Shoulda used The Cardigans instead of Aqua. C'mon - lovefool was in heavy rotation on the top 40 in 1996-97.
Great for sweden. yea!
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SunByrne 10:26PM (2/19/2006)
Amazing what kind of energy policy you can get when you don't let the oil companies write it...
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Frank 8:43AM (2/20/2006)
11. Sweden vows to go oil-free and the U.S. vows to drill more wells in Alaska and the Florida coast. Thanks for the visionary leadership George.
And Clinton did ... What? Meanwhile President Bush (yes my dear commrade, that his name and title - deal with it) announced at the State of the Union that he wants to move us off our dependence on oil - don't you pay attention? Of course the do nothing Democrats say it's "not enough". Wow, that must have taken some great intellectual insight!
13. Amazing what kind of energy policy you can get when you don't let the oil companies write it...
Ok ok, so let's see if I get this. You want to write an energy policy. So you have a bunch of meetings with ... the local garden club? How about meeting with some energy companies? You know oil, gas, coal, nuke, hydro, wind, etc. Oh no! Bush is talking with BIG oil, hide the children! By the way, most oil companies are into other means of producing energy, you could try to read thier annual reports or their websites. But no, you want us to have an energy policy made up by some senator who owned a health club company... yea that must mean he's an expert on the subject! But don't talk to the energy companies because we all know they E.V.I.L bwahahaha!
One last note.. the energy policy produced in Bush's first term was mostly devoted to conservation and new technologies. It's available as public document if you want to read it. Sure they want to drill for more oil, that's the short term strategy so we're not beholdn to the middle east. The long term is to get the point where we use as little of it as possible. That will mean embracing nuclear in a big way, but I don't know if this country is ready to face that reality, which Sweden apparently has.
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Paul 8:51AM (2/20/2006)
"The long term is to get the point where we use as little of it as possible."
Which is why the CAFE standards are now up to 35 mpg city for cars and 30 mpg city for trucks, right? Right? Oh, sorry, I was just dreaming.
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franke 9:07AM (2/20/2006)
"10. Hydro power is great but does anyone know what Sweden does with its spent nuclear fuel rods from the nuclear plants?"
What do other countries do ? In Sweden we bury it deep into a mountain in sealed containers that will hopefully last =. There is not much you can do with used nuclear fuel.
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Car-la 12:10PM (2/20/2006)
"Hydro power is great but does anyone know what Sweden does with its spent nuclear fuel rods from the nuclear plants?"
I thought the same when I read that. I have to admit though, that it's at least a good start to get away from oil. Maybe we'll find environment friendly replacements for nuclear power int he future.
As for the car manufacturers, I guess they'll just introduce engines that run on multiple fuels, just as Saab has already done.
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Charles S 1:47PM (2/20/2006)
I specifically remember Cheney said that "Conservation does NOT work" back in the first term. Cheney may not want to hold energy meeting with the Garden Club, but then again, since he claimed executive privilage, we will NEVER know who helped Cheney came up with the policies.
Regardless of where people are getting their information from, our current energy policy gives LITTLE emphesis on conservation, or even alternative energy. Majority of the energy bill centers around subsidies for oil, coal, and nuclear industry.
I can't believe the ignorance! But again, it's pointless. It doesn't matter how much we go back and forth on this matter, the sad truth is that we all are going to face the music. US is going to keep on using MORE oil, and not less. Prices will continue to fluctuate greatly, and our economy will get hammered every time the energy prices spike.
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