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jcwinnie

Bioenergy Småland – Expo Växjö.

The Big Gav, a.k.a., Mister “I’ve Got a Dead Rodent in My Pants, What Have You Got, Mister?“, reports that the Swedish town of Vaxjo also uses wood chips as the primary mechanism for reducing emissions. In their case, the wood chips and waste are locally produced and the ash is returned to the forests, which makes the process sound a lot more sustainable.

When this quiet city in southern Sweden decided in 1996 to wean itself off fossil fuels, many people doubted the ambitious goal would have any impact beyond the town limits. Today, however, Vaxjo is attracting a green pilgrimage of politicians, scientists and business leaders from as far away as the United States and North Korea seeking inspiration from a city program that has allowed it to cut CO2 emissions 30 percent since 1993.

Vaxjo is a pioneer in a growing movement in dozens of European cities, large and small, that aren’t waiting for national or international measures aimed at curbing climate change.

From London’s congestion charge to Paris’ city bike program and Barcelona’s solar power campaign, initiatives taken at the local level are being introduced across the continent — often influencing national policies instead of the other way around.

“People used to ask: Isn’t it better to do this at a national or international level?” said Henrik Johansson, environmental controller in Vaxjo, a city of 78,000 on the shores of Lake Helga, surrounded by thick pine forest in the heart of Smaland province. “We want to show everyone else that you can accomplish a lot at the local level.” …

In Vaxjo, (pronounced VECK-shur), the vast majority of emissions cuts have been achieved at the city’s heating and power plant, which replaced oil with wood chips from local sawmills as its main source of fuel. Ashes from the furnace are returned to the forest as nutrients.

“This is the best fir in Sweden,” said plant manager Ulf Johnsson, scooping up a fistful of wood chips from a giant heap outside the factory.

He had just led Michael Wood, the U.S. ambassador to Sweden, on a guided tour of the facility, which is considered state of the art. Not only does it generate electricity, but the water that is warmed up in the process of cooling the plant is used to heat homes and offices in Vaxjo.

A similar but much larger system is in place in Copenhagen, Denmark’s capital, where waste heat from incineration and combined heat and power plants is pumped through a purpose-built 800-mile network of pipes to 97 percent of city.

Copenhagen is often cited as a climate pioneer among European cities. It cut CO2 emissions by 187,600 tons annually in the late 1990s by switching from coal to natural gas and biofuels at its energy plants. Its goal is to reduce emissions by 35 percent by 2010, compared to 1990 levels, even more ambitious than Denmark’s national target of 21 percent cuts under the Kyoto accord.

In 1995, Copenhagen became one of the first European capitals to introduce a public bicycle service that lets people pick up and return bikes at dozens of stations citywide for a small fee. Similar initiatives have since taken root in Paris and several other European cities. Next, Copenhagen plans to spend about $38 million on various initiatives to get more residents to use bicycles instead of cars.

Transport is one of the hardest areas for local leaders to control since traffic is not confined to a single city. Without stronger national policies promoting biofuels over gasoline, Vaxjo, for one, will never reach its long-term target of becoming free of fossil fuels. But it’s doing what it can locally. So-called green cars running on biofuels park for free anywhere in the city. About one-fifth of the city’s own fleet runs on biogas produced at the local sewage treatment plant.

Vaxjo has also invested in energy efficiency, from the light bulbs used in street lights to a new residential area with Europe’s tallest all-wood apartment buildings. Wood requires less energy to produce than steel or concrete, and also less transportation since Vaxjo is in the middle of forests.

Although Vaxjo is tiny by comparison, the C40 group, including major metropolitan centers such as New York, Mexico City and Tokyo, has been impressed by the city’s progress and uses it as an example of “best practices” around the world.

• Read more in the Environmental Programme or in the brochure Fossil Fuel Free Växjö.
• Read more about Växjö’s work with Fossil Fuel Free Växjö and about how a region in Japan is taking advantage of the Växjö experience – Bioenergy Småland – Expo Växjö.

In 2005 primary energy production by means of solid biomass in Sweden was 7.94 million tonnes of oil equivalent, making Sweden second in the European Union only to France at 9.67 Mtoe, and just ahead of Germany at 7.86 Mtoe.

Wood fuel from the forest makes up a large part of Swedish bioenergy. 25 % of Sweden’s total energy supply is derived from biofuels,” writes SVEBio. “Within heating and industry bioenergy is the major source of energy, and it is now growing steadily in the production of electricity and transport fuels.