Sweden and Energy

I haven't done any posts on Sweden for awhile so figured I'd do a google search and see what comes up. Bloomberg had an article up on electric vehicles and how Sweden wants to eliminate sales of fossil-fueled cars by 2030.

Demand for electricity in Stockholm and other cities is outgrowing capacity in local grids, forcing new charging networks to compete with other projects from housing to subway lines to get hooked up . . . For the rise in electric vehicles to be manageable despite the lack of power capacity, Power Circle suggests that owners should receive incentives not to charge and even send power back to the grid during morning and afternoon peak hours. 



To me, this sounds like a nice way to say: take public transportation versus driving.

Bloomberg had a link in the article about how a lack of energy may start to hurt Sweden's economy:

The lack of power threatens everything from expanding the subway network to new highways and residential areas . . . The vast amount of data generated by 5G use from self-driving vehicles to domestic appliances to sensors for roads and railways will need to be supported by data centers that would further increase demand in the city of about two million people . . . The city [Malmo] was already on the brink of blackouts last winter. And there will be even less power in the future if EON SE goes ahead and shuts a local gas plant if higher environmental taxes are introduced as planned in August. 

The main reason for this lack of energy is due to the shift to green energy sources such as wind. It almost feels like the article wants to say, but won't say, is that the push to green energy will require economic sacrifices. That is, people in Sweden will need to learn to live with a declining standard of living.

When it comes to energy, I tend to focus on oil and what the future for oil will be. I will need to start paying attention to news on energy in general.