Sweden Sets Its Goal to Become A Fossil Fuel-Free Nation↵
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In its 2016 budget, the Swedish government increased spending on renewable energy and climate change measures by $546 million. The huge increase resulted from the government's desire to become one of the world's first nations to end its dependence on fossil fuels. In 2014, the country also announced plans to make its capital, Stockholm, fossil fuel-free by 2050. To end its dependence on fossil fuels, the government wants to produce a lot more solar and wind energy. Consequently, one of the most impressive winners in the budget was solar energy, which was allocated $58.4 million per year between 2017 and 2019 – an eight-fold increase in spending. The spending increases came after Sweden suffered extreme heatwaves and one of the worst bushfires in the country's history in 2014. Clearly, the government is committed to taking action to protect its citizens from the effects of climate change in the future. What's most exciting is that Sweden is just one of many governments around the world getting behind renewable energy. Hawaii has announced its plans to become the first state totally powered by renewables, and a city in Texas is also making the switch. Those governments feel their goals are possible because in July 2015, Denmark successfully produced 140 percent of its electricity demand from wind power. But this renewable energy victory was achieved during extremely favorable weather conditions and only for a short time. Unfortunately, there's no way to store this kind of renewable energy for later use, which makes it hard to completely cut out fossil fuels. Nevertheless, it was a big step in the right direction. If Sweden has success in developing new energy storage technology for renewables, as they've committed to in their new budget, they could well lead the way for Denmark and others.