Swedish Seek Independence from Fossil Fuels

Gerald Traufetter reports in Der Spiegel (20.3.2006) on how Sweden wants to get independent of fossil fuels by the year 2020—as announced by its government. Actually, Sweden is in a good position of doing so because the share of oil in the total power consumption already decreased from 77 percent in 1970 to 34 percent in 2003. Also today, 24 percent of energy is already provided by the renewables. The article is somewhat short in the questionable parts of turning wood, straw, crops, etc. into fuels, plastics, or chemicals. For instance, it's still a scientific argument whether bio-ethanol from crops is economical, environmental friendly and helps reducing global warming.