Sunday, July 8, 2007

Swedish Smugglers Do Their Part for Alternative Fuels

Mark this in the "unusual" category or "crime doesn't pay". Well at least not for the criminals.

In this story from MSNBC.com, smugglers in Sweden are accidentally helping to fuel the country's public transportation system and at the same time helping to improve the environment with clean-burning renewable fuels.
"Almost all of the 185,000 gallons of smuggled alcohol seized by the customs service last year was turned into alternative fuel and used to power buses, trucks and a biogas train, officials said Friday."
According to the article, the confiscated alcohol is taken to a plant where it is heated and turned into a biogas that can help the country's efforts to reduce its dependency on fossil fuels.

Interestingly, about 25 percent of all energy consumed in Sweden comes from renewable sources, compared to about 6 percent average for the European Union In Stockholm, the nation's largest city and also its capital, one-quarter of city buses run on ethanol or biogas.


Source: MSNBC.com

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