The small town of Kalmar, Sweden, is on track to become entirely free of fossil-fuel use by the year 2030, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune.
The city’s comprehensive program to reduce fossil fuels includes heat and electricity generated by a local wood pulp plant, an entire fleet of biodiesel municipal trucks, strict energy efficient building codes and tax incentives.
Kalmar’s 60,000 residents save money by getting over 65 percent of their energy from renewable resources.
They say that while the shift has been an adjustment, it “hasn’t made life miserable.”
At first, most of the city’s politicians scoffed at the idea of independence from fossil fuels, but now they are overwhelmingly in support of the transition.
“We are not eco-freaks,” one sustainability officer told the Tribune. “We’re just making it easy to change, giving people the tools.”
–Julia Hengst/Newsdesk.org
Source:
“Going green: Entire Swedish city switches to biofuels to become environmentally friendly”
Chicago Tribune, March 3, 2009