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Switzerland's Energy Problems |
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by swiss info
Email: mbatko (nospam) lycos.com (verified) |
05 Apr 2006
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"In the long term we face an enormous electricity gap if we do not resolve shifts in policy." The Swiss Energy Board wants to reduce the predicted energy gap primarily by improving energy efficiency. |
SWITZERLAND’S ENERGY PROBLEMS
Without counter-measures, Switzerland will face great problems with its electricity supply from 2020
By Swiss.Info
[This article published in Swiss Info, March 2006 is translated from the German on the World Wide Web, http://www.swissinfo.org/sde/swissinfo.html?siteSect=111&sid=6585469&cKey=1143567428000.]
The Swiss Energy Board (SEB) sounds the alarm since an enormous increase of energy consumption is expected in the next 30 years.
In late March 2006 the SEB presented the first findings from its energy perspectives on securing the Swiss energy supply in the next 30 years.
The studies of the board on 2035 energy perspectives initiated two years ago are coming to an end. The final report will be offered at the end of 2006.
ELECTRICITY GAPS
“In the long run we face an enormous electricity gap if we do not resolve shifts in policy,” Swiss director Walter Steinmann warned.
A crisis is imminent because the first nuclear power plants will be taken off line for reasons of age around 2020 and long-term electricity contracts with France will expire.
The SEB assumes that Swiss electricity consumption will increase further. According to the scenario, energy consumption will rise 18 to 24% by 2035.
The increase could be lowered to 16% if the state and the economy join forces and introduce new regulations like a carbon dioxide tax.
A decline of 8% can only be expected in the idealized scenario of the 2000-watt society.
The Swiss Energy Board understands an “energy efficient society” as a 2000-wsatt society. The 2000-watt society is the follow-up project to the current energy saving program “Energy Switzerland.” Today the average Swiss citizen consumes 6000-watts of energy.
IMPROVED ENERGY EFFICIENCY
The SEB wants to reduce the predicted energy gap primarily by improving energy efficiency. Without effective state measures in this area, Switzerland will need two new nuclear power plants, Steinmann said.
The second axis is promotion of renewable energy. The capacities of electricity production from sources of energy like water, biomass, wind and geothermal should be increased as much as possible.
In the variant “Strengthened Cooperation” between the state and the economy, the consequences of reinforced regulations for buildings, vehicles and equipment are outlined along with introduction of incentive programs and the CO2 tax on fossil fuels.
These regulations alone will not be enough. Fossil sources of energy will be needed at least temporarily. New gas power plants and thermal power plants are in the foreground for the SEB.
This is not the optimal solution but the least harmful solution, Steinmann said. The released CO2 emissions must be compensated on national and international planes.
NUCLEAR POWER AND FOREIGN DEPENDENCE
The SEB leaves open the option of new nuclear power plants if the storage of radioactive waste can be solved. On account of the long approval process, a new nuclear power plant could only begin operation in 2030 at the earliest.
According to Steinmann, the question of foreign dependence is explosive, not only the question of sources of energy.
He recalled that Switzerland consumed more electricity than it produced itself for the first time in 2005. The price of oil conceals risks. According to the SEB director, the time of cheap oil is over, not the petroleum age.
The SEB is now also drafting a “shock scenario” in which the oil price climbs over $100.
The energy perspectives will be finalized at the end of 2006. Then Swiss president Moritz Leuenberger will encourage political discussion. |
See also:
http://www.mbtranslations.com
http://www.foe.org
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