Sweden’s economic success and low energy prices in the latter part of the 20th century were based on hydropower and nuclear power. Energy was cheap, which facilitated all kinds of business activities.
Now, living in a country where electricity is expensive, I realise how big a problem high electricity prices create. For example, a kiosk owner tells me that ice-cream freezers are a big drain on his income, and a restaurant owner says that his electricity bill is one of his biggest expenses. Of course, building large-scale industries in such a country will be a challenge.
For a long time, Swedes were lucky to have low electricity prices, which simplified everything in society – from kiosks to factories. As energy becomes more expensive, everything becomes more difficult. Add to that the high tax burden, and we see that a country can easily fall into economic disarray.
Scare tactics have led us to shut down several nuclear reactors, even though they could have operated for many more years. With the experience we have built up over the years, we could have created new and even better nuclear power plants.
Note that the environmental movement is not against the technology itself, but against nuclear power as such. It doesn’t matter how safe the technology is – they still want to shut down everything to do with nuclear energy. This is an ideological position that is likely to be applauded by the oil and coal companies, because decommissioning nuclear power always leads to increased use of fossil fuels. As we know, solar and wind power are complementary energy sources. They cannot meet a country’s energy needs because the wind does not always blow, the sun does not shine at night, and efficiency is low. That’s why old oil-fired power plants have to be started up – in the name of the environment.
Sweden has long been a pioneer in nuclear power. We were good at building safe reactors and had excellent plans for the safe management of nuclear waste. Nuclear power was a reliable source of energy – not even reaching its full potential – before the decision was made to phase it out. Today’s reactors are safer, more efficient and generate less or no waste. Yet we are going back to burning oil. And maybe we need to build new hydropower plants in the last untouched rivers of northern Sweden?
We could also be self-sufficient in uranium. There are plenty of deposits in the country of this energy source, which is virtually infinite. We don’t really need to wait for the saving grace of fusion power – we invented the energy source of the future a long time ago.
So what’s stopping us from becoming the richest country in the world?
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