Green heating? It is possible, tell the swedes and the New York Times: Over the course of the last decade, Kristianstad’s government has orchestrated a conversion from mostly oil heating to various “green” fuels like biomass, food processing waste and wood pellets.
It’s quite interesting because it is so easy to think, “Impossible!” when some environmental policy experts suggest that countries should cut emissions by, say, 20 or 30 percent by 2020. As many of the articles in our “Beyond Fossil Fuels” series point out, some methods for drastically reducing emissions exist. But they come with economic costs (at least in the short term) and require a political commitment.
Having cut out fossil fuel for heating, Kristianstad’s per-capita carbon dioxide emissions are now only about 4.1 tons per person. Compare that to 19.18 in the United States and 4.91 in China, a far less developed country than Sweden.
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It’s quite interesting because it is so easy to think, “Impossible!” when some environmental policy experts suggest that countries should cut emissions by, say, 20 or 30 percent by 2020. As many of the articles in our “Beyond Fossil Fuels” series point out, some methods for drastically reducing emissions exist. But they come with economic costs (at least in the short term) and require a political commitment.
Having cut out fossil fuel for heating, Kristianstad’s per-capita carbon dioxide emissions are now only about 4.1 tons per person. Compare that to 19.18 in the United States and 4.91 in China, a far less developed country than Sweden.
Read more...
