BIOMASS HUB

The Swedish Bioenergy Association reports that bioenergy has overtaken oil production, 31.7% to 30.8%, respectively, as a measure of final energy use. The announcement seems favorably aligned with the country’s in-house World Bioenergy Conference, held May 25-27, 2010, in Jonkoping.

Between 1990 and 2005, Sweden decreased carbod dioxide emissions by more than 7%, while concurrently improving economic output by 36%. As a reminder, economic production as a result of bioenergy development stretches well beyond its borders; in January, a Swedish-US partnership announced groundbreaking of the world’s largest wood pellet production facility that will soon be sending sweet Georgia pine a long way from home (and a long way toward’s Sweden’s carbon reduction goals).

Apart from energy production, 5% of Sweden’s transport fuels are biofuels. For more information on the growth of Sweden’s biosectors, see the Renewable Energy Focus report.