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The Scandinavian region is well known for being green conscious. Now, Sweden is surprising the world with an unpredictable goal. It is presuming that it will be able to become the first oil-free economy within a decade. In 2020, Sweden has set the goal of becoming an oil free nation.

The Swedish government is motivated by both rising oil price and global warming. It is planning to replace all fossil fuels by renewable sources. This is a proactive response by the country to address climate change, which most country of the world is undermining. This will free them from radical rise in oil prices when pressures on diminishing supply and increasing demand for oil arise.

According to Mona Sahlin, The Minister of Sustainable Development said to The Guardian newspaper “dependency on oil should be broken by 2020,”. There are always comfortable alternatives to oil. In a decade houses need no longer use oil for heating and nor gasoline to drive.

Optimistic Goal to End Oil Dependency – Applauded even by Pessimists

There is certainly disbelief in Sweden’s goal to stop using oil by 2020. However, skeptics and critics are cheering the nation for going for such an ambitious goal. The radical goal might act as a source of inspiration for other countries to decrease their reliance to typical fossil fuels.

There are many who doubt the achievability of Sweden’s goal to end the dependency on oil. One example is the chief executive of Sweden’s largest ethanol factor (Agroetanol), Kenneth Werling. He says, “I don’t think this is realistic, but it is a good ambition. Maybe we can build a society that is less dependent on oil, and that is good in itself.”

Oil Dependency & The Menace

The Swedish’s government is determined to achieve its goal. For instance at the Royal Swedish Academy of Science, the energy committee is denouncing the menace of being heavily dependent on oil. The world oil price is fluctuating while supply is at a peak. This portrays a possible future where oil will very soon become scarce and the price of oil will reach unforeseen limits. The committee is even considering oil price to be the core of future recessions and the Government of Sweden is already reinforcing its resistance against such a crisis.

The price of oil has increased significantly since the 90s. Moreover, Sahlin, says that dependency on oil is one of the most intense problem that the nations of the world face. Sweden is acting early so that they will be at the safe side when oil price fluctuates.

Sweden Hailed for its Marvelous History

It is without doubt an irrational goal set by the government. However, Sweden with its 9 million inhabitants has over years shown tremendous progress in renewable energy.

In the 1970s around 77 % of all energy in Sweden was generated by oil however, in 2003 this figure had decreased to 32 percent. In the Europe zone Sweden is way ahead. On average, renewable energy represents only 6 percent of the energy produced in the region. Yet, 26 percent of Sweden’s energy needs are met with renewable sources. Moreover, approximately one-third of Sweden’s energy is generated from nuclear power.

Sweden Paving Its Way Forward

In the country both “water” and wind plants have been installed in the coastlines. Several new wind farms have been providing energy since 2009. Moreover, in EU, Sweden is the country, which has the highest forest per capita. This implies that it can produce a sufficient amount of “biomass”.

The Swedish Government does also provide conducive packages for using renewable sources of energy. They are geared towards both the automobile and heating systems.

There are many households that have superseded their oil furnaces with heating systems using wood-based pellets. This has significantly decreased the dependency on oil for the purpose of heating. The Swedish Petroleum Institute states that only 8 percent of the households in the country uses oil based heating systems compared to previously 85 percent.

There are many other incentives offered for using renewable sources of energy. For instance, subsidies are offered for ethanol-based fuel. It can be purchased at a cheaper price than gasoline yet its real cost is 40 percent above that of gasoline.

The Word Should Be Committed To Renewable Energy

In 2006, The President of United State of America George W. Bush stated that the American’s addictions to oil must be addressed. The Prime Minister of Sweden, Goran Persson was relieved to hear that other countries understood the need to go green. However, it appeared in the budget that was suggested a week later that many of the programs to alleviate American’s addition to oil were underfunded.

Sweden is not only trying to understand the problem of addiction to oil. They have already suggested strategic plans and are gradually departing from a fossil-fuel dependent economy to an oil-free country.

Source: About