The Swedish government has announced plans to become all but oil free within 15 years, but without building a new generation of nuclear generators. Instead, the country intends to replace fossil fuels with renewables.
“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.”
The plans are being developed by a committee of industrialists, academics, farmers, automotive manufacturers, civil servants and others, who will report to parliament in several months.
In 2003, 26% of all the energy consumed in Sweden came from renewable sources and only 32% from oil.