Sweden aims to eliminate oil
Sweden aims to be the first country in the world to completely eliminate oil as a fuel, by focusing on renewable sources. 'Our dependency on oil should be broken by 2020,' said Minister for Sustainable Development, Mona Sahlin. The move to make Sweden into an oil-free state is led by a consortium of industrialists, academics, farmers, car makers, civil servants and others. They will issue a report to the Swedish parliament in a few months. The Swedish parliament said that the move to replace fossil fuels with renewable forms of energy was essential on environmental and economic grounds. '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,' said Ms Sahlin. The minister said that Sweden would be putting the following measures into place: tax relief for conversion from oil; more renewable energy; introducing more measures for renewable fuels; more investment in developing a 'renewable society'; and continues investment in district (typically geothermal or biomass) heating. 'Breaking dependence on oil brings many opportunities for strengthened competitiveness, technological development and progress. The aim is to break dependence on fossil fuels by 2020. By then no home will need oil for heating. By then no motorist will be obliged to use petrol as the sole option available. By then there will always be better alternatives to oil,' she said. Other key players in move from oil-based power include Iceland, which has the advantage of significant geothermal resources, but hopes to begin powering its fleets of cars and boats with hydrogen by 2050, and Brazil which aims to power 80 per cent of its transport fleet with ethanol derived from sugar cane within five years. As there is currently no EU energy policy, countries are making their own decisions on which path to pursue and where to concentrate energy research investment. Some have indicated a return to nuclear power as an 'easy' way to meet energy needs and meet targets set under the Kyoto protocol on global warming. The EU has, however, set targets for the uptake of renewable sources of energy, and the EU is recognised as a world leader in this field. The Swedish decision makes it the first country to overtly acknowledge a world without oil. Cheap oil is the backbone of our modern civilisation, having paved the way for cheap electricity and, in turn, almost all types of technology, in addition to the plastics, pharmaceutical and engineering sectors. Sweden may be one of the few countries with a sufficiently diverse energy make-up to achieve oil-elimination. Since 1994, industrial production in Sweden has increased by 70 per cent, while domestic and service sector oil consumption has dropped significantly, and industrial oil consumption has remained flat. Sweden currently relies largely upon nuclear, hydroelectric and other forms of renewable energy for its electricity needs. Of its total power supplies, renewable sources account for 26 per cent. And while Sweden took the decision to phase out nuclear power in 1980, they still have working reactors.
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