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In 2005 the Swedish government announced their intention to become the first country to break their country's dependence on oil and other ‘fossil raw materials’ by 2020 *. As of 2005, oil supplies provided about 32% of the country's energy supply, with nuclear power and hydroelectricity providing much of the remainder. Although there it was not proposed to end the use of oil entirely, the 2020 date was seen as a marker on a continuing process of oil phase-out in Sweden.
Commission on Oil Independence To make recommendations on how this should be achieved, the government created a Commission on Oil Independence (Kommissionen för att bryta oljeberoendet i Sverige till år 2020), headed by the then Prime Minister Göran Persson, which reported in June 2006. In their report, the Commission proposed the following targets for 2020: Replacing oil with renewable energy sources and energy conservation measures to cut total energy use and envisaged. This is also expected to result in cuts in carbon emissions and to strengthen the country's role in sustainable development technologies as well as increasing its international economic competitiveness. Energy sources Technical solutions under consideration include the further development of domestically grown biofuels, solar cells, fuel cells, wind farms, wave energy, a major increase in district heating schemes and greater use of heat pumps. It is expected that research, development and commercialisation of such technologies should be supported by government. The Commission is also recommending that the government should not sanction the creation of a national natural gas infrastructure. It is foreseen that this would inhibit the development of biofuels, and encourage the use of gas in place of oil. Energy use
Progress On their release, the Commission's proposals were supported by the national automotive industry association, BIL Sweden. It was, however, opposed by the timber industry, who fear that land producing profitable exports may become used for low-income domestic biofuel production *. The prospects for the proposals are currently uncertain following the defeat of the Prime Minister's Swedish Social Democratic Party in September's 2006 Swedish general election. The Commissions proposals do remain, however, of international interest. See also | ||||||||||
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