Energy in Switzerland
Energy sector in Switzerland is, by its structure and its importance, typical of a developed country. Apart from the hydro and biomass, the country has few indigenous energy resources: petroleum, gas and nuclear fuel are imported, so that in 2006 only 15% of final requirements have been covered by local resources.
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History
The energy economy in Switzerland developed as the rest of Europe, but with some delay until 1850. There are three different periods. The agrarian society until the mid-nineteenth century, a small scale energy economy based on wood and biomass (plants feeding the animal and human labor), which was in general renewable energy. Also used were wind and hydraulic power, and, from the eighteenth century, indigenous coal.
The industrial society, from 1860 to 1950, had to import coal as it was the main source of energy but not much available as a natural resource. Also an important source of energy was water power at low or high pressure. Then came the consumer society, which needs mostly oil and natural gas and, to a lesser extent, water power (turbines) and later nuclear energy. The oil crisis and pollution of the environment prompted to make use (in a limited extent) of renewable energy. It is notable that 100% of the Swiss railway network is electrified: - the high proportion of energy generated through hydroelectric power and the lack of natural resources (e.g. coal and oil) help to explain why such a situation is strategically beneficial in Switzerland.
Overview
| Energy in Switzerland 1234 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capita | Prim. energy | Production | Import | Electricity | CO2-emission | |
| Million | TWh | TWh | TWh | TWh | Mt | |
| 2004 | 7.48 | 316 | 137 | 179 | 60.6 | 44.6 |
| 2007 | 7.51 | 299 | 147 | 164 | 61.6 | 42.2 |
| 2008 | 7.71 | 311 | 148 | 180 | 63.5 | 43.7 |
| 2009 | 7.80 | 313 | 149 | 182 | 62.1 | 42.4 |
| Change 2004-2009 | 4.3 % | -0.7 % | 8.0 % | 1.9 % | 2.5 % | -4.8 % |
| Mtoe = 11.63 TWh . Prim. energy includes energy losses that are 2/3 for nuclear power 5 | ||||||
Electricity
Switzerland's per capita electricity consumption is slightly higher than that of its neighbours.6
Production of electricity (2008):7
- Hydropower plants - 56%
- Nuclear power plants - 39%
- Thermal power and other power plants - 5%
The Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) is within the Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC). SwissEnergy is a program aiming at promoting energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy with the collaboration of the cantons and municipalities, and partners from trade and industry, environmental and consumer organisations.
A report was published in 2011 by the World Energy Council in association with Oliver Wyman, entitled Policies for the future: 2011 Assessment of country energy and climate policies, which ranks country performance according to an energy sustainability index.8 The best performers were Switzerland, Sweden France.
Climate change
The consumption emissions per capita of greenhouse gases in 2001 of the top 5 countries were US 29 tonnes, Australia 21 tonnes, Canada 20 tonnes, Switzerland 18 tonnes and Finland 18 tonnes.9
See also
References
- ^ IEA Key World Energy Statistics 2011 October 2011
- ^ IEA Key energy statistics 2010 Page: Country specific indicator numbers from page 48
- ^ Key world energy statistics 2009
- ^ Key world energy statistics 2006
- ^ Energy in Sweden 2010 Facts and figures The Swedish Energy Agency Table 8 Losses in nuclear power stations Table 9 Nuclear power brutto
- ^ Energy policy swissworld.org, Retrieved on 2009-06-23
- ^ Record electricity consumption in Switzerland admin.ch
- ^ http://www.worldenergy.org/publications/3800.asp
- ^ Which nations are most responsible for climate change? Guardian 21 April 2011
- Energy in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
External links
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