Posted on September, 12 2005

Jan-Åke Jacobson, who runs Falkenberg Energi, one of eight companies now working with WWF Sweden to increase renewable energy, believes his country should be able to phase out nuclear power within 30 years. Most of Sweden’s electricity comes from large-scale hydro and nuclear plants.
 
“For me personally the turning point came in 1986 with the Chernobyl nuclear accident, which caused contamination in the north of Sweden. I realised then we would all have to change course in energy.
 
“Fourteen per cent of Sweden’s total energy requirement is still being met by nuclear power. I believe we could replace that with wind and hydro within three decades."
 
The possibility to  replace nuclear in three decades
 
“My company is owned by the community it serves – Falkenberg, a small town just down the coast from Göteborg.
 
“Originally it was the municipality asking us to make a commitment to renewable energy, but to be honest it felt natural for us to take part.
 
“Now we only sell electricity that has been ‘eco-labelled’ by the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation – the biggest environmental organization in Sweden, which runs the eco-labelling initiative Good Environmental Choice both for products and electricity.
 
“Fifteen per cent of our output is from wind turbines and the rest hydro, and we also work with two wind power cooperatives.
 
“We also see a potential for more small-scale hydro plants – most of them old mills. And biomass is important here in Sweden, with paper mills providing by-products from paper production as the main source of fuel.
 
“Of course, our customers come to us because we only sell
eco-labelled energy. There’s no doubt: renewable energy is on the move in Sweden.”