The UN recently released a document about environmentally sustainable living
. It is overall a pretty interesting description of things some countries are doing to help; however, one thing struck me as simply amazing:
βIn Sweden, many residences are heated by district heating systems fueled with biomass, rather than by conventional fossil fuel or electric heating systems in each building. About 75% of apartment buildings and many individual residences obtain heat from district heating systems, providing about 50% of total national space heating energy. About half of the energy for the district heating systems comes from biomass, including fuelwood, peat, wood by-products, and combustible waste.β
The localized steam heating system at the UW always impressed me when I lived in the dorms. To think that such a system could be used in private apartments simply amazes me. The wonders of socialism!