Published on Wednesday, February 8, 2006 by the Guardian / UK
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
by John Vidal


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.


Sweden...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.

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.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

2 things:

1. They are not going to be an "oil free" economy. Maybe and "oil free for electricity" economy. Maybe even an "oil free from gasoline" economy. However the taint of oil is still going to be there.

2. Even if they are 100% oil free, if the rest of the world tanks, so do they.

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Leading by example is a "foreign" concept.

Depends on whether anyone is going to follow, doesn't it? Can't lead if no one will follow. Still, like I said, they will not be truely "oil free" unless you change the defination and if the world tanks, so do they. Maybe a little later but still it will happen. Not saying it is a bad idea or a good one. FWIW, I think it is a good idea in theory, however, like communism or socialism, time will tell if it really works. I'm doubtful it will achieve the said aims but we shall see.

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Said a mouthful there.
Hidden the fine print of W's embrace of hydrogen is the news that nuclear power is the preferred method for generating the electricity needed to extact hydrogen from water. We'll need some large multiple, like 50 or more, of our current nuke plants to produce enough hydrogen to operate and auto and truck fleet like we now have.

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The world will eventually have to follow. Oil will run out. Count on it. We use it about 1 million times faster than it is produced. When we run out is up for debate and conjecture, but we WILL run out, or our descendents, anyway.

If world economy starts to tank when oil supplies dwindle sharply, countries who adapted early will be in good position to sell alternative energy technologies to the grasshoppers of the world (you know, the ant vs. the grasshopper fable).

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I would like to read more about this.... Or better yet, see it actually happen =)


-John

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Yes, oil will run out. When? Who knows. It was predicted almost a hundred years ago. Every time, it seems to somehow not run out. Oil wells that were dry 30 years ago are pumping oil again today. 1 million? Surely you jest.

Energy is only a small thing as far as I see. Wind, solar, etc, etc is going to take over the energy sector sooner or later. It is the by products that are hard to take up. Energy aside, how many products do you use that are not oil tainted? Here is another fable for you. I knew someone who was an alcoholic. He wised up and stopped drinking for 20 years. In the meantime, he took up pot smoking. He even lost a job because he failed a piss test when all he had to do was abstain for a month. So, what did he do in reality? Swap one addiction for another. So, all that will happen is we swap our oil addiction for another addiction.

Even in the movie Star Trek TNG where they have replicator technology, they seem to have friction with other races over resources.

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Yeah, you're right. Probably more like we use it 10 or 100 million times faster than it's produced.

The reason the other stuff hasn't taken over yet is because it's more expensive, by a not small amount. The notion that the marketplace will solve these problems just like magic may not be completely solid.

We're going to have the need for greater efficiency forced on us, whether we like it or not. Might be good to get a jump on the game.

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Best argument I've read all day!

Aklim, that was a good one.

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Don't confuse "produced" with "pumped out of the ground."

Regardless of the economy, politics, who follows, etc. of it all. If it works to any degree, they will at the very least be breathing cleaner air then most of us.

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Don't get me wrong. Efficiency is a great thing to increase. Using wind, hydro, nuclear, etc, etc, is all good. However, I find that article misleading in that in the forseeable future, I don't see how any place can be oil free. There are way too many products that we use that need oil. When you say "oil free" I think that you can do without any oil. I suppose if you have others manufacture the stuff and don't count it, you could make such a false claim. Just as Bush claiming that we need to cut out the Mideast oil. Good for him. Lets just buy more from South America and other places and we can cut down the number of barrels we buy from Saudi Arabia and other ME places. How will that affect the ME? Not even noticable since the oil prices will still be the same and China and India will gobble up more. So, even if they get paid in Vietnamese Dong, Chinese money or Indian Rupee, does it matter? It still gets translated into the same thing. I have 50 pennies in my right pocket. If I put 25 in my left and 25 in my back pockets I still have 50 pennies. So, even if we took the ME out of whom we get oil from, will it change anything? In your rethoric, yes. You can also chalk up a phyrric victory for yourself. In real terms, have you achieved anything? Absolutely not.

BTW, if the world economy tanks and you have this magic source of power that you can sell to those who don't have it, with what will they pay you with?

All I am saying is that while this is a good idea and sounds good from the rethoric standpoint, all it will end up doing is shifting the addiction from one source to another. The main cause of all the world's problem is the 2 legged creature who dominates it. Till that changes, nothing changes. Just like the pennies in the pocket. Shift it here or there, you still have the same amount. Even if we gave everyone replicators to make food, clothes, etc, etc, we will still fight over dilithium to power the damn thing.

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Till our dirty air mixes with their cleaner air, yes.

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Hmm I thought Iceland was going to be the first one. There was a TV program that I saw that showed Iceland on the verge of becoming a hydrogen economy thanks to all the geothermal sources of energy that they have. My hats off to Sweden for being the leader in green technology and I hope more will follow.

Yup, there's always some fine print isn't there? I've read that at least some of our hydrogen will also be extracted from crude oil which is another thing that Bush won't tell you about.

Aklim, I agree that it will be difficult to be 100% oil free for any country, since oil has so many uses besides powering automobiles. But who knows, there are synthetic ways to make products, some of which probably haven't been discovered yet. Anyway I think you misread the article. It doesn't say that Sweden will not use any oil whatsoever by 2020, only that it will no longer be the major source of energy. Even that is a very respectable and worthy goal. Don't be so pessimistic about everything. Are you saying it's better to change nothing and continue doing what we're doing?

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