a- Outline the different energy resources used by your country. Include a recent pie chart:
Sweden’s energy comes from two main sources: oil and bioenergy. However, this country has been continuously decreasing its oil consumption throughout the years. Every year they keep decreasing the amount the oil they used, and they have reached a point where they use more bioenergy than energy from fossil fuels.
That is extremely impressive, considering that they automatically become an example to the world of what the future has to be. Sweden’s major energy resource is biofuel; that has to stay that way, and the biofuel consumption just has to increase. What would be ideal for the world and essentially Sweden would be to eradicate any oil consumption.
This helps the world’s sustainability and helps Sweden’s economy, as they wouldn’t have to import oil into the country anymore. Bioenergy is not the most perfect way to make energy, as it still pollutes; nevertheless it is much better than energy extracted from fossil fuels, given that they are part of the natural exchange of energy.
This essentially means, that by extracting fossil fuels you are injecting CO2 into the atmosphere that shouldn’t be there. However by taking bioenergy, you still are burning CO2, but it is CO2 that is part of the natural exchange of the Earth’s surface. The other third of energy in Sweden is made up of wind, water, coal and nuclear energy and natural gas. Within this “third” of energy, the greatest energy sources are hydropower and nuclear power.
These two energy sources make about 17% and 12% respectively of Sweden’s energy. This is great news for Sweden and the world, because the level of CO2 will decrease immensely if the energy we get comes from these resources. However, nuclear energy does have the downside that it releases a lot of radioactivity; therefore if it is not handled properly it can be extremely hazardous.
Hydro-power vs. Bio Fuels
- hydro-power gets all of its energy from water. So it emits no green houses, such as methane or CO2
- One of the plus sides of Bio fuels is that it burns energy from the surface of the Earth in a way that doesn't interrupt with the ecosystems in the country.
- Biofuels are also cheaper, as they need no investment to make and only uses waste to generate energy.
- Hydroelectric power only requires an investment of capital at the beginning to build the dam. After that, the dam basically generates energy with no costs.
- Although Bio fuels are a much more cleaner or "greener" energy source than hydro power, it still emits vasts amount of CO2 into the atmosphere.
- The great problem with bio fuels is that the world has not reached the efficiency needed when using them, so people use a lot of energy making it, and don't get as much energy produced as energy used.
- One of the greatest issues with hydroelectric dams is that they produce a lot of erosion, and since Sweden's precipitation is so high, so is erosion. The great problem with erosion is that it messes up the balance within the ecosystems present or near the river.
c- Discuss the factors that affect the choice of energy sources adopted by your society.
- One of the main factors for the choosing of biofuels is the fact that it saves so much money. Bio fuel helps Sweden save money as they no longer have to import as much oil to the country. Oil is getting more expensive every year, so reducing the use of oil helps substantially. Bio fuels are also cheaper because the government does not have to invest any capital in order to get it. Therefore, bio fuels are a very good option in terms of economy.
- Hydropower are also much cheaper than oil. Hydroelectrics only require an initial investment to build the damns, but after this the energy is basically "free".
- Sweden also has chosen biofuels over oil because it doesn't harm the environment as much. Although it does releases CO2, it is CO2 that was already in the Earth's surface. Whereas, fossil fuels release CO2 into the atmosphere that was supposed to be under the Earth's surface. Therefore, in general biofuels are more sustainable.
- Sweden also has chosen Hydro power because of its renewability. Although it may have its flaws, hydropower does not emit any green house gases. Therefore it does not contribute to Global warming.
- Sweden has also ceased to use oil because this energy resource has proven to be one of the most unfriendly and non-renewable.
- The main change that Sweden has had over time is the reduction of oil for their energy sources. Over time, oil has only gotten more expensive, and it has proven to be negative for the environment. This has encouraged Sweden to switch into alternative energy sources that are actually found in Sweden and do not harm the environment as much and are more sustainable. over time, Sweden has also increased
Sources:
"Bioenergy Facts | Svebio - Svenska Bioenergiföreningen / Swedish Bioenergy Association." Svebio.se. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 May 2013.
"Geological Survey of Sweden." Renewable Energy Sources in Sweden -. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 June 2013.
"Geosynthetica.net - Geosynthetics." Geosynthetica.net - Geosynthetics. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 June 2013.
"Sweden to Build 2,000 New Wind Turbines, Aims for 50% Renewables by 2020."TreeHugger. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 June 2013.
"SWEDEN.SE - the Official Gateway to Sweden." Energy: Generating Power for a Sustainable Future. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 June 2013.
