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Biofuel targets of Sweden
In a move to reach the target of having only biofuel powered cars by 2030, Sweden has ordered the development of regulations for producing and distributing biofuel. The creation of these regulations will be done by the country’s energy company.
Besides the obvious environmental advantages the country also regards the creation of such regulations as a much needed boost for the Swedish industry as a whole. Being pioneers in the field, Sweden is in the best position to jumpstart a biofuel sector which will give the country the international advantage in this area.
With the emphasis on producing biofuel to power vehicles, it is expected that this strategy will also be utilized for all other uses of bioenergy. Biogas, being an effective and cheap alternative, has enormous potential as being the energy source for the industry in Sweden.
In order to start on the plans as soon as possible, the Swedish Energy Agency has set next year as the target date for the regulations. These will also include recommendations as to what legislations are required in order to start off the sector, without problems in that area.
Because of the large agricultural sector in Sweden, producing biofuel has enormous potential for this country as organic waste is one of the key ingredients that can be used to produce the alternative energy source. To this end, several pilots are running for producing biogas from animal waste and other organic material.
Investigations have been ordered into the area of transforming the vehicles used in agriculture to also run on biofuel in an attempt to make the industry self sufficient in that regard. This investigation has been ordered by Sweden's agriculture agency, and is currently ongoing. Since comparable pilots are already running for the private sector, these investigations are a logical next step in order to reach the goal of turning Sweden into a Biofuel only country by 2030.
The target for 2030 is part of the new energy and environmental policy that was revealed in February 2010 by the Swedish government. This target also plays a key factor in the countries goal for reducing emissions by 40% by 2020. At that time 50% of Sweden should run on alternative energy and efficiency of energy usage must have increased by 20% at that time. The mentioned percentages are based on the current level of energy use country wide.
With set budgets for national and international climate policies along with new energy efficiency regulations for Swedish controlled organizations the country aims to reach the goals it has set for itself, taking the lead in Europe on climate and other environmental policies.
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