The air is clean. Traffic is minimal. There are no coal-fired boilers. 70 percent of households receive a water heating system that comes from a large centralized plant that uses electricity.

The European Commission has recognized Stockholm as Europe’s most sustainable city. The Swedish capital has achieved a record in energy conservation and quality of life. The new district of Hammarby Sjöstad which is home to 17,000 people, for example, has been designed to have low environmental impact. Stockholm demonstrates that cities do not have to be all noise, smoke, cement jungle, and a burden to the environment.

Stockholm aims to be ‘fossil-fuel free’ by 2050. The use of public transport plays an important role in the achievement of this goal. Gaining widespread implementation is the measure where 80 percent of transport trade is done during rush hour on trams or buses that are fed with electricity or non-oil fuels. There are now 80 buses in the city that run on biogas or methane generated by recycling waste water from homes. 5 percent of all vehicles are already moving on cane ethanol.

Sweden, on the other hand, aims to be a country with zero carbon emissions by 2050. Power generation will be as follows: 45 percent coming from hydropower, 10 percent from other renewables, and 45 percent from a dozen nuclear power plants.

Via The Local