Vaxjo in the forefront on renewable energy

The goal to become fossil fuel free city was set in Vaxjo 13 years ago, long before global warming and sustainable development. The first steps towards a biomass-based energy supply were taken already in 1980. After the oil crisis in the 70s, the energy company wanted to be less vulnerable and less dependent on imported fuel. As forests surround the city, it was easy to find good alternative and Vaxjo was the first city in Sweden to start using biomass in the production of district heating and power. Today over 90 % of the energy for heating comes from renewable energy sources. About one fourth of the power that is used in the entire municipality is also produced by renewables within the geographical border. If we include import 54% of all our energy used comes from renewable energy sources. We have now thirty years of experience in this matter to share.

Gasification plant for bio-DME

In the struggle to reduce the CO₂ emissions, it is necessary to work with many different sections. Vaxjo's strategy comprises a combination of changed behaviour, energy efficiency, and transition to renewable energy in heating, power and transport. The best energy is the one that is never used, which makes energy efficiency an important subject. The potential of cost-efficient actions is big and our public housing companies, as well as private companies now build energy efficient wooden houses, even so called passive houses that need very little external input to be heated. Also here, Vaxjo can offer years of experience. Our main effort today is to find alternatives to diesel for heavy vehicles in the transport sector. We believe plug in hybrids in the long run will be the main alternative to reduce the use of gasoline in private cars. Since the end of the 90s, Vaxjo has been involved in different projects with the university, Volvo and others to develop 2^nd generation of bio fuel.The idea is to put biomass into a gasification plant and retrieve a gas that can be used to produce i.e DME or FT-diesel for trucks and busses. A feasibility study shows a good potential to locate a big plant in the Vaxjo area that can produce bio-DME. However, it is still a long way to go before the final decision on when, where and if a gasification plant can be built. Our main purpose is to hurry up the development.