A previous article shone a spotlight on several crowdsourcing success stories from Sweden, and the country that birthed technologies from Skype to Spotify is striving to foster other technologies that could influence the world in coming decades. Ahead of our CSW Summit Arctic Circle later this month in Swedish Lapland we are going to focus on two contrasting projects that have both gained global recognition.
To begin we will consider Sweden’s aim to be one of the world’s first fossil-free welfare nations, and its challenge to other countries to do likewise. And then as a more immediate example of having to overcome initial disbelief and develop new techniques to harness natural resources we look at the work of a musician who creates instruments from ice and stages music concerts in a giant igloo.
Fossil Free Sweden
Between 2013 and 2014, 51.1% of Sweden’s energy needs were met by renewables, according to data from Eurostat and the Renewable Energy Directive. Not content with this significant achievement, Sweden’s prime minister announced in a speech to the UN General Assembly in 2015 that the country was going even further and will work towards becoming “one of the first fossil fuel-free welfare states of the world.” Fossil Free Sweden was launched to help pursue this aim.
Through measures such as the early closure of nuclear energy plants Sweden’s political leadership has implemented policies to support the emergence of climate-smart innovations, resulting in reduced emissions and innovative market-based solutions. Fuel company Preem, which operates petrol stations throughout Sweden, has decided to only offer renewable fuels at its pumps by 2030. The country has also long pushed the development of dimethyl ether, a gas byproduct of biomass such as pulp and paper production that is often touted as a cleaner source of truck fuel. In a very recent February 2017 development the Swedish Energy Agency granted $150,000 to help finance a four year research project towards a carbon-dioxide-free steel industry. The project’s goal is to come up with a process for blast furnaces to burn hydrogen rather than coal and coke, emitting water instead of carbon dioxide.
Ice Music
Ice Music is a celebration of the winter spirit of Swedish Lapland – a new art form where the musicians play on instruments made of ice – ICEstruments. Their regular concert hall is a gigantic two-domed igloo specifically designed to cope with the body and breath heat of the musicians and an audience. Why is that important? Because the instruments start to melt! It’s something no other musicians have had to cope with – stringed instruments begin to sound flat and have to be retuned for the temperature rise, and tubular pipe and percussion instruments begin to fill with water and change pitch.
We invite you to experience the magic of Ice Music with us in Luleå, Swedish Lapland – Sweden’s northernmost destination and starting point of CSW Summit Arctic Circle on March 15. Hear Tim tell his fascinating story at 5.15pm, and then hear a wonderful performance of ice music at dinner the same evening.
Join us next week and book your place now.
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