Natural gas collides with Swedish climate policies
Biofuels in heat & power production is the most sustainable alternative of all when it comes to extending the urban district heating networks sensibly. Natural gas is a more uncertain alternative, as its availability is tied to various political factors; hence it is less compatible with Swedish efforts towards climatic improvement. This is the essence of an article in the February issue of the scientific magazine “Energy Policy”, written by scholars from KTH.
Swedish district heating installations are on the increase, and so is the use of waste as fuel for them. New pipelines for natural gas are also being discussed. A recent report, based on findings from KTH scientists and others, examines how well a number of alternatives would turn out when compared with biofuels.
– If we should follow the outlined climatic policy in our country, meaning that greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by one-half by 2050, and then still further reduced, natural gas will compete mainly with biofuels and other sustainable sources of energy, says Göran Finnveden, head of the KTH Div. of Environmental Strategy Research and project leader of the study which the above article was based on. That scenario would make natural gas a poorer alternative, climatically speaking
The study has also dealt with the use of waste and refuse as fuels; however, its findings are inconclusive. Should waste materials be disposed of by means of burning them instead of storing them in dumps, this has certain advantages – but this is true only as long as you do not intend to recycle such materials.
All in all, strong indications exist that burning biofuels in heat & power stations is environmentally advantageous in most cases, an extra bonus factor here being that external political factors in the surrounding world would affect us less.