All welcome: Guest Speaker: Andrew Lang Wednesday 16th June Marrar Woorn 7.00 PM
At the time of the two oil shocks of the 1970’s Denmark, Sweden and Finland were 75-90% reliant on imported fossil fuels, mainly oil and coal. Their standard of living was similar to Australia’s.
In 2009 the renewable share of Sweden’s energy needs reached 46.3%. This is well in front of the European Union’s aim of 49% renewable energy by 2020. (Australia‘s target is for 20% of our energy needs from renewable sources by 2020).
Surprisingly different from Australia’s preferred approach, less than 1% of Sweden’s energy is supplied by wind generators.
Are there lessons that we can learn from Sweden and other countries that can guide a choice of renewable energy solutions for the Otways?
Andrew Lang is a farmer based near Lismore and is a founding member of SMARTimbers Cooperative, which produces value added timber products from farm grown logs.
He represents Australasia-Oceania on the board of the World Bioenergy Association – the bioenergy peak world body.
He has studied bioenergy in the Nordic countries, China and North America, and also how grower-governed forestry management associations function.
His particular approach is how we adopt and adapt the approaches for recycling, bioenergy and energy efficiency that are extensively practiced in many other countries to Australian conditions and culture.
