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Sweden To Be Oil-Free By 2020
Philoneist.com writes "Treehugger is reporting that the 'Minister for Sustainable Development Mona Sahlin has declared that Sweden is going to become the first country in the world to break the dependence on fossil energy.'" Sweden's hope is to have all of the country's energy supplied by only renewable resources, ridding the country of cars that run on gasoline and oil-heated homes.
It will only be free of oil in 2020. Other renewable energy sources will first be fased out later. Which also makes more sense considering Swedens large dependancy of Nuclear Energy.
(Stupid subject length restriction)
Why are they still building houses with oil heating?
Similarly why build power stations that burn oil or gas?
They seem horribly short sighted developments to me.
Sweden should be applauded for trying to dump fossil fuels, but it will be a lot to ask for in only 14 years. However if it means the development of alternatives (where there's a market there's a will) then by the time the rest of the world starts realising they need to do it as well the technology should be a lot cheaper.
Britain is looking at generating 20% of its power needs from tidal/wave power, however I think the more sensible nuclear power station route will be taken eventually.
Just write: "american" under nationality and "political pressure" under reason for applying.
Welcome to sweden!
Shouldn't this be in 'Politics', not "Hardware'?
So, in 14 years, every car currently on the road in Sweden will be obsolete? Illegal? Will they be making outlaws of classic car collectors? The Swedish automobile industry must be much larger and more advanced than I had ever dreamed, to pull this off. They're going to have to develop affordable new cars with a completely different architecture, since used cars won't be usable. Is the government going to reimburse people whose vehicles are unusable and unsellable? And can every single driver in the country afford a brand new car? A brand new domestically made car, even?
Somehow I don't think they thought this through.
Stasis is death. Embrace change.
To quote my grandmother, don't believe everything you read in newspapers. And to that I would like to add: don't believe everything you hear from politicians. Of course, I agree that we can't continue our dependency on oil and it's nice when people have visions. But will it happen by 2020? Sadly, I don't think so. (Bias: I'm a Swede.)
Get free of all the other items made using fossil fuels as well. Otherwise what are you really doing? There are many items made with fossil fuels that could be made with alternatives, provided someone would want to pay for it.
This whole idea sounds more like a "feel good" program. All those "tax benefits" to encourage the switch look good but are only to bait the hook but as with any tax used to change behaviour it will not generate the income necessary long term and new sources will be needed. Look at the "congestion tax" - do they expect vehicle use to drop so much as the original reason behind the tax is no longer applicable?
Oh well, best of luck. I think the time table is ludicrous but if they can pull it off then maybe the rest of the world can learn. If not at least one country will be slightly better off.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
These are the same people who are shutting down perfectly good and safe nuclear reactors in favor of importing electric power from dirty Danish and Polish coal plants and (oh the irony) old Soviet graphite reactors in the Baltics. Oh, and did I mention that this has led to the country not having enough power to support peak demand during winter (politicians seem to be unable to grasp the difference between electric power and energy)? The only good thing in the whole mess is that their previous pipe dream goal ("nuclear free Sweden by 2010") has no chance of being met...
They are also the same people who have set the goal of "0 traffic deaths" - and honestly believe that they'll reach it.
There's truly nothing to see here. Move along.
The biggest problem with the democratic system is that after a while the voters start to think that they should be running things.
There's a good reason the US doesn't have the mass transporation of European countries.
The United States is bigger than all of them put together.
Mass transportation will never be efficient except in the most densely-populated urban areas, where people live and commute within a small radius of one another. That's just not going to happen in rural communities. Too, public transportation doesn't work in cities that are laid out over a large area, e.g. Los Angeles.
Driving isn't just a part of the American lifestyle, for many people it's part of who they are. We identify ourselves with our cars; rightly or wrongly, they are part of our psychological makeup. Anyone that wants to govern in this country knows that they must provide the citizenry with automobiles and fuel. They just have to. I don't know what's going to happen when the reserves are depleted. I mean, it's entire plausible we'd send our troops to war on account of oil.
Oh, wait.