Cold temperatures, favourable economic conditions and population growth combined to push energy consumption to record levels in 2010.
This content was published on
1 minute
swissinfo.ch and agencies
The Federal Energy Office reported Swiss energy consumption rose to 911,550 terajoules (tj) last year, smashing the previous record of 895,250tj reported in 2008.
The Energy Office said the use of green energy was “booming”, with increased use of wood heaters, up 7.7 per cent, district heating up 12.7 per cent, solar power up 13.5 per cent and biogas up 7.3 per cent.
Consumption of extra-light fuel oil rose 5.5 per cent, while natural gas consumption jumped 10.8 per cent.
Increased consumption of diesel and aviation fuels – up 3.9 and 5 per cent respectively – and a 3.6 per cent decrease in petrol consumption, confirmed a growing trend to replace petrol with diesel, the federal office said.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
“Green economy” boasts dynamic growth
This content was published on
And the growth will continue. The environmental organisation forecasts that 53,000 new jobs linked to the “green economy” will be created between now and 2020. Helene Sironi, head of further education at WWF Switzerland, tells swissinfo.ch that new professions will come into being and many members of the current Swiss workforce will need retraining to…
This content was published on
Kyoto risks collapse due to lack of support beyond 2012 from rich nations, which are meant to take the lead in fighting climate change. “This process is dead in the water,” said Yvo de Boer, the former head of the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat. “It’s not going anywhere,” he said during the United Nations…
This content was published on
Many people have been asking themselves – particularly since the cabinet’s call on May 25 for the gradual phasing out of all of the country’s nuclear power plants by 2034 – whether liberalising the market will result in the price of electricity going up. Urs Näf, an energy expert at the Swiss business federation, economiesuisse,…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.