Scenes From a Green Marriage

I'm a huge fan of Ingmar Bergman.  How could you not be smitten by his searing examinations of the human psyche?  His films' direction, often featuring one of his favorite actresses, Liv Ullmann, are a must for any film fanatic.  One of my favorite Bergman projects was his epic Scenes of a Marriage, where Bergman paired Ullmann with Erland Josephson.  The 300 minute mini-series follows the fragile relationship between Johan and Marianne, beginning with a painful magazine interview, the highs and lows of their marriage, eventual divorce, and in the end, a tentative reconciliation.  What has stayed with me, however, were the assuring ending scenes showcasing Fårö, a small Swedish island in the Baltic Sea.

 

Fårö is a small island off the coast of Gotland, Sweden's largest island.  The province of Gotland, which includes Fårö and other small islands, is home to all of 57,000 people.  What's fascinating about this popular Swedish summer resort is that it is a laboratory for Sweden's quest for an energy infrastructure based entirely on renewable fuels.  Not one fuel source dominates:  its towns use biofuels to provide heat; wind turbines are the source for much of Gotland's electricity on the island as well as offshore; geothermal energy fuels a health center and spa; and part of the province's fleet runs on RME, or rapeseed-oil methyl ester.  Future plans include solar panel installations on government buildings, many of which will be retrofitted to run 100% on renewables.  Designated as one of the European Union's 100 Renewable Energy Communities, the province's government aims to be completely free of fossil fuels by 2025.  In the long run, a more sustainable energy supply should improve Gotland's business climate:  like many remote resort communities, the high prices of fuel and other supplies, which must be imported, stunt an economy already limited to seasonal tourism.

 

It's easy to dismiss Gotland's experience:  success on this small island does not mean this approach could work in large European nations.  But what Gotland demonstrates is that many fuel sources need to be integrated into a country's energy portfolio.  The island's approach works for now:  biomass is used for electricity, not transportation; fuels such as RME or DME work fine for fleets; and a combination of wind and solar, combined with smart grid technology, can keep homes lit and the appliances in them humming.  Scalability is the question:  biofuels work fine for fleets, but fuel going into a car tank could have been food in people's (or animals!) bowls.  More could be done in Gotland:  much of the trash generated on the island, especially in the summer, when its population swells to 200,000, could run methane-based power plants.  Currently, any trash that is not recycled gets shipped to Sweden's mainland.  The evolution towards renewables is simply not top-down:  school children are taught sustainability in class, and farmers are starting to grow more organic crops.  Everyone here is involved.

 

In the end, while Sweden moves along to a 100% renewables-based energy policy, Gotland leads the way.  In the meantime, we leave you with comforting images of Fårö . . .