Although energy policies seem to be failing in countries such as France, which wants to reduce its nuclear power output to 50% of its electricity generation capacity by 2025, other countries can possibly show how a sensible energy policy is implemented.
A country which has reversed course on abandoning nuclear energy is Sweden. In 1980, its citizens chose to abandon nuclear energy in a referendum. But Sweden is now generally in favor of nuclear energy.
There are very interesting things to tell about the energy policy in Sweden. The bulk of its electricity generation comes from non-fossil sources. Thanks to its geography, Sweden can generate 45% of its electricity from hydro. Another 45% or so is nuclear generated. An interesting tidbit is that the electricity generated per capita from nuclear is even higher than in France, measured in kWh per day per person: 19.6 vs. 19 in France (2007 figures).
A very surprising and remarkable fact is that Sweden counts just 33,000 (approx.) residential natural gas customers, out of a population of almost 10 million. One might therefore ask how the Swedes heat their homes in a climate which can be inhospitable.
For heating their homes and offices and for hot water needs, the Swedes rely on district heating and electric heating, increasingly in the form of heat pumps: already more than 40% of detached houses in Sweden have heat pumps installed (2010 figures), which is replacing electric resistance heating, which was popular in Sweden in the 1980s.
As mentioned, an important of element of Sweden's energy policy is the importance of district heating - many villages and cities have their own district heating systems. Many of these district heating systems are fueled by waste, either from residuals from Sweden's extensive forestry industry or from using municipal solid waste, in which Sweden leads (landfilling has been prohibited in Sweden since a couple of years). This type of fuel has pretty much replaced oil, which was used initially for these district heating systems.
District heating systems are capital intensive and may not be suitable for every country, but it is still remarkable what has been achieved in Sweden, also with regard to the use of heat pumps. Unlike many other countries across the Baltic sea, it is or will not be dependent on gas from Russia (or Norway for that matter).
In my view, Sweden’s energy policy is very rational and sensible, especially in comparison to a country such as Germany, which is often promoted as a leader in the use of green energy, but which in reality is spewing out more CO2 year on year. Too bad that many countries keep sending officials on a Green energy fact-finding mission to Germany instead of Sweden.
More information on Sweden’s energy policy can be found in the attachment and the two links.
Links:
http://www.energimyndigheten.se/Global/ ... n_2012.pdfhttp://www.avfallsverige.se/fileadmin/u ... ng_eng.pdf
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