Sweden Is A Success Factor When Its Comes To Waste To Energy!

Last Week, I talked about a local place in Tulsa Oklahoma that produces waste to energy. This week I found that Sweden is widely considered a waste to energy success story. 

International comparisons show that Sweden is the global leader in recovering energy from waste. 

99 percent of all household waste per person is converted into energy. 

Sweden has a long history of harnessing energy from waste. The first waste incineration plant with energy recovery opened over 100 years ago in 1904. In the late 1940's, following World War II, Sweden began to significantly expand its district-heating network, providing an outlet for waste to energy in the coming decades. In the 1970's, Sweden’s heavy dependency on oil left it extremely vulnerable to the oil shocks of the 1970's.

During this time Sweden introduced nuclear to its energy mix and reintroduced coal. It was also during this period that a major expansion of waste to energy plants began. In the 1980's coal once again started to become a major source of energy, but as Sweden has increasingly looked to be more environmentally friendly and less dependent on foreign sources of energy, it has turned to renewable sources such as bio fuels, wind 

and most importantly waste. 

Renewable energy has played a major role in Sweden’s push to become independent from fossil fuels. In 2005, Sweden’s government set a target of producing 50 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020 and achieving complete carbon neutrality by 2050.

From 1999 to 2010, waste incineration with energy recovery increased from 39 percent to account for 49 percent of the country’s waste treatment methods. In 2009, 2,173,000 tons of household waste and 2,497,830 tons of industrial or other waste were treated by incineration, with energy recovery at roughly 32 Swedish waste-to-energy facilities. 13.9 TWh of energy was 

produced through incineration, of which the equivalent of 12.3 TWh was used for heating 

and 1.6 TWh for electricity.

PUBLIC SUPPORT

Swedes are famous for their commitment to the environmental and their knowledge of 

environmental issues. In a 2010 poll, 87 percent of Swedes said they had personally 

taken action to reduce their C02 emissions the highest percentage among European 

countries. Although most Swedes prefer recycling to waste to energy, they are 

generally supportive of WTE as a waste disposal method as the number of plants has 

grown oven, and as regulations and technological advancements have decreased the 

emissions of Swedish WTE plants by over 90 percent since the 1980's.

In the United States, the commitment to the environment and climate change is not 

nearly as prevalent as Sweden. 

This year, a Gallup poll found that only 51 percent of Americans 

said they worry a great deal or fair amount about climate change. This combination of

less awareness and less environmental commitment means less public support for 

policies than you see in Sweden and other western European countries. 

Furthermore, 

the earlier, dirtier days of waste to energy in the United States created a negative 

perception of the WTE industry. 

Most Americans are relatively unaware of the 

environmental benefits that waste to energy offers, which creates and additional barrier 

for WTE proponents in the US to overcome.

VIDEOS TO WATCH:

http://vimeo.com/103801887

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr_DGf77OhM

CITED WORKS:

http://www.cpmfg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Waste-to-Energy-page.png

http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Sweden-has-Run-out-of-Rubbish-for-Waste-to-Energy-Industry.html

http://www.avfallsverige.se/fileadmin/uploads/forbranning_eng.pdf