In Stockholm, they intend to replace all fossil fuels with fuel based on renewable energy without building new nuclear power plants
Avi Blizovsky, concentration of sources
President Bush may have surprised international observers with his announcement that the US intends to end its addiction to foreign oil, but Sweden is going one step ahead of him. The environmentally progressive country has announced one of the most ambitious plans: to complete the end of the oil crisis within 15 years." Our dependence on oil should be broken in 2020," said Mona Sahlin, Minister of Sustainable Development. Sweden is about to take a significant step in the world economy and wean itself off the use of oil within 15 years, without building new nuclear power plants.
The goal, as presented in September by Prime Minister Goran Persson, was applauded by the environmental organizations but also met with skepticism from experts who believe that the goal is unrealistic.
Officials in Sweden have commented that getting rid of oil completely in such a short time is next to impossible but the goal is to ensure that Swedes will never again be forced to use fossil fuels simply because renewable energy sources are not available.
"There must be better substitutes for oil, which means that no house will need oil for heating and no driver will have to depend only on gasoline." Sahlin said.
(Guardian, additional Walla news) The Swedish government has said that the intention is to replace all fossil fuels with fuel based on renewable energy even before climate change forces them to do so and before the shortage of oil causes prices to rise. "Our dependence on oil should end by 2020," said Mona Sahlim, the Minister of Sustainable Development. "There will always be better alternatives to oil, which means that no house will need oil for heating and no driver will need only fuel for his car."
A committee consisting of industrialists, academics, farmers, car manufacturers and public service officials will submit a report to the Swedish Parliament within a few months. The report should contain a detailed plan of the rehab process for the country of 9 million citizens.
According to the Energy Committee of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, there is a growing concern that world oil reserves are reaching their peak and will soon be depleted and that due to rising prices the world economy will enter recession.
Minister Sehalim described the dependence on oil as one of the biggest problems expected for the world. "Sweden freed from fossil fuels will be at a tremendous advantage, and will also reduce the impact of fluctuations in oil prices," she said. "The price of oil has tripled since 1996," Sahlim added.
An official in the Swedish government said about the plan: "We want to be mentally and technically prepared for a world without oil. The plan is to respond to climate change, rising fuel prices and experts' warnings that oil will soon run out."
Sweden, which was hit hard by the rise in fuel prices in the 70s, now supplies itself with almost all of its electricity from nuclear reactors and hydroelectric power and relies on mineral fuel mainly for transportation. Almost all heating in Sweden has been converted to heating using geothermal energy.
The decision to ban the use of oil makes Sweden one of the countries at the top of the green league. Iceland hopes to power all cars and boats using hydrogen produced from renewable energy-based electricity by 2050, and Brazil intends to use ethanol, produced mainly from sugar cane, in 80% of its marine fleet.
Environmentalist - Earth
For a news item in the Courier Journal
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