Green energy for cities

As environmental protection rises on the agenda of companies around the world, some of them have taken bold steps to transform their business model and reduce their impact on the climate without jeopardizing their bottomline.

"The high demand the world now has on fuels needs to change. The world population is growing and its activities are creating a very negative impact on the environment. There is a way to be good to the environment and still be profitable," said Goteborg Energi CEO Anders Hedenstedt.

As the fourth-largest energy company in Sweden and one of the largest in the western hemisphere, Goteborg Energi has developed ways to recycle its "waste" energy and distribute them to other companies and industries.

As a producer, vendor and distributor of heating gas and electricity, Goteborg Energi handles and uses a massive amount of fuel for its core business and other activities, which include telecoms.

In fact, the company, whose annual turnover reached 430 million euro last year, runs the second-largest fiber-optic network in the region and the biggest active network in Sweden.

So, the company has found a way to sell and distribute its "surplus energy" for district heating and the production of biogas.

In the north of Gothenburg, it has begun construction of a facility that will be able to gasify woodchips from forest residue to produce biogas, which is purified and distributed as "green" fuel for buses and cars in the area. Last year, it was able to process the same biogas from sewage sludge.

"The environment is part of the culture of Goteborg Energi. It's not just something written on paper," Hedenstedt said.

As China continues to grow rapidly, it would likely need the technology and know-how to minimize the impact of companies on the environment.

"In the big cities of the world, like those in China, we can really make a difference and change the way we affect the environment," he also said.

www.goteborgenergi.se

(China Daily 03/02/2009 page7)