Sweden is the EU’s best performer when it comes to the use of renewable energy
Sweden is the EU’s best performer when it comes to the use of renewable energy
Swedes have also learned to consume less energy overall as well
Recently, Eurostat reported that the EU has succeeded in meeting its 2020 target of having at least 20% of the energy used in the block coming from renewable sources. In fact, it deserves some praise because that goal was even exceeded to reach 22.1%. However, one country is the clear champion in that respect and that is Sweden.
The renewable energy that Swedes consume accounts for 60% of the total and apparently the goal of 50% was reached there 8 years before the schedule.
Scandinavian countries show the way
Another interesting thing for Sweden is that its total energy consumption has decreased since 2005, and it has despite a population increase of 1.4 million people. The amount of energy used during that period has shrunk from 413 to 396 TWh.
Quite impressive, in fact, and a demonstration that it is possible for a society to be sustainable in the contemporary world without seeking constant and exponential economic growth.
A division into the various categories that define renewable energy consumption shows that the largest increase can be seen in the consumption of biofuels, which mainly took place in the industrial and transport sectors.
Sweden is doing well ahead of the herd when it comes to running vehicles with renewable energy fuels, such as biofuels, hydrogen, biomethane and green electricity. 31.9% of transport energy consumption comes from such sources, compared to an EU average of 10%. Even the other country, Finland, only comes in at 13%!
The second largest increase When it comes to renewable energy, consumption in Sweden was in wind power, followed by the use of heat pumps. Sweden is only slightly behind Austria in terms of the share of energy from renewable sources in the gross consumption of electricity – 74.5% and 78.2% respectively.
As the case stands, Sweden and the EU follow Norway and Iceland when it comes to the use of renewable energy, as these countries have made great strides in converting to such types of energy consumption. The renewable shares of the total energy consumption for 2020 were 77.4% and 83.7%, respectively.