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Fossil fuel free Växjö
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In 1996 the Växjö City Council
concluded that the climate problem is the most important
global environmental issue, which, however, has to be solved
on the local level. Therefore the council unanimously decided
that Växjö should become a Fossil Fuel Free City
with the intermediate goal of decreasing per capita emissions
of Fossil CO2 down to 2.3 tonnes per year, which
is about one quarter of EU15's average emissions.
Starting in 1980 from an estimated value
of 6.0 - 6.5 tonnes of fossil CO2 per capita
per year, the 2004 value was 3,46 tonnes. Positive results
of all small and big efforts in this area soon triggered
a multitude of international technical visits in Växjö,
once-per week on average. The city invited Växjö
Energy Ltd, Växjö University, the Regional Energy
Office and several manufacturers to participate in the presentations
and soon the co-operation was formalised in a cluster with
the brand name BioEnergy Smaland - Expo Växjö.
"Many of our visitors already have the
Know-How, but we have the Show-How. We believe that seeing
is believing". Therefore a very important step in a
new project is a technical visit in Växjö. Within
an hour from the city all aspects of forestry and the use
of bio-energy - can be studied on small and large scales".
However, in spite of all the success in the heating and
power areas much remains to be done in the transport area.
Växjö has managed to slightly lower the emissions
from transports by introducing all sorts of environmentally
friendly vehicles and mixing 5 % Ethanol in all petrol sold
- well knowing that Ethanol is a short time solution.
In 1996 the municipality, Växjö
Energy Ltd and Växjö University initiated a number
of bio-DME (Di-Methyl-Ether) projects. The results of the
Växjö efforts are not only the heating sector
based 90 % on biomass or total energy consumption based
50 % on renewable energy sources, but also creation of new
jobs and export business.
by Mr T Lennart Gardmark
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