Sweden has been in the forefront of implementing energy efficient building standards borne out of necessity. Swedes have always favoured smaller four cylinder cars with heated front and passengers seats, a feature which you learn to appreciate during the winter months. The winters in Northern Sweden are fierce with sub zero temperatures for months on end and very little if any daylight.

For example, the annual mean temperature of the town of Kiruna, famous for the largest underground iron ore deposits in the world, is below 0C. The mean temperature in Kiruna in January is -14.5. During the warmest month, July, the mean temperature is a balmy 12C. It is no surprise that the world famous Ice Hotel is located just outside Kiruna. The snow lies on the ground for more than half the year from late October until early May. During three weeks in winter the only thing that lights up the skies are the Northern Lights since the sun stays below the horizon. Another interesting fact is that Kiruna used to be the largest municipality in the world covering 22,000 km² within its city limits but has been surpassed by another mining town, Mount Isa in Queensland which covers more than 42,000 km².

The heating for much of the 20,000 inhabitants of Kiruna is, like in most towns in Northern Sweden, provided by a centrally located large furnace and distributed through a network of well insulated pipes that distributes hot water to a majority of buildings in the city. The fuel for the furnaces is green waste collected from the households and leftover biomass from the timber industry.

In the winter in 2007-2008 I had the opportunity to revisit my old hunting and fishing grounds up in Arctic Sweden, on a similar latitude from the North Pole as Mawson hut is from the South Pole.

During my stay in Sweden the Swedish version of the Ross Garnaut report, a comprehensive Swedish Government report entitled, Sweden and climate change – threats and opportunities (SOU2007:60 Sverige inför klimatförändringarna – hot och möjligheter) came out. In this report a wide range of experts in different fields of the Swedish economy were trying to calculate what the net economic impact global warming would have on the Swedish society.

Surprisingly, the conclusion was that Sweden on the whole would stand to gain a lot from global warming and not suffer any greater economic losses associated with an increase in mean temperature.

Winters would get warmer meaning heating requirements would be reduced and costs for infrastructure required for snow removal reduced. According to the modeling of the future climate in sub Arctic and Arctic Sweden (northern Sweden, or Swedish Lapland, spans the Arctic circle) average rainfall would increase which would mean that the pine forests that cover much of the interior of the country would grow better.

The increase in sea levels due to the melting of the polar ice caps would be balanced by the continuous rise in the elevation of the land. The post-glacial rise of the land after the last ice age that ended 10,000 years ago continues unabated at an astounding rate of 9mm per year in Northern Sweden or 90cm per 100 years. This figure is corrected for rising sea levels due to melting ice caps.

The climate of central Sweden where Stockholm is situated would, according to the report, be like central Europe by 2030 according to the modeling thus allowing the planting of wine grapes and other exotic crops.
However, the not so nice part of the story for a keen Nordic skier like myself, and possibly for the management of the Ice Hotel and the associated tourist industry built around the ice, snow and northern lights, is that the winters would be wetter and snow will become a scarcity much like in recent winters here in the Australian Alps.

However, Swedes have seldom suffered from myopic self interest. They have always had a global outlook and generally care about their close and not so close neighbours and are doing the right thing by us by agreeing to further cuts in CO2 emissions.

The leaders in the promotion of more carbon efficient technologies are the big industries in Sweden such as the car manufacturer Volvo and the paper producer Stora Enso. These companies have pledged to introduced new green technologies that will reduce CO2 emissions by a further 20 per cent by 2020.

The driving force behind being green is about new business opportunities. By continuing to be in the forefront of developing new sustainable environmental technologies Sweden is building the next export industry success stories which will be in green technologies that give private companies and the general public practical solutions to reduce their carbon footprint.

When will we see local car manufacturers and other polluting industries in Australia see the both the challenges as well as the opportunities that lies ahead? A change in mind set in large and small industries is required if we are not going to be a follower in green technology adoption.

Dr Roger Kalla is the Director of his own Company, Korn Technologies, and a stakeholder in Australia’s agricultural biotechnology future. He is also a keen part time nordic skier. 

This article was first published by On Line Opinion and is republished here with permission from Dr Kalla.

The Australian Telecommunications Association wants us to think about recycling our 12 million disused mobile phones.

I have got three defunct mobile lying around in my home. I don’t think I am an exception since mobile phones usually have got a lifespan of 18 – 24 months.

Motorola together with some researchers at University of Warwick has presented an eco friendly way of recycling the cover. Embedded in the cover made out of biodegradable plastic is some sunflower seed. When the phone dies, you just plant the cover and watch it turn into sunflowers.

Flower power man.

Man is to step on the Moon again a decade from now in preparation for the huge leap to Mars. This has been seen by some as another reflection of the hubris of the Bush administration seriously out of touch with the pressing global threats facing our planet and humankind. However, Australian agriculture and environment stand to make some gains from spin-offs from this space exploration program.

The announcement made by President Bush in 2004 that the USA aims to reinvigorate its stalled space exploration program has been met by mixed responses and even seen by some as a prime example of technology escapism.

In order to supply a crew for the 7 month minimum return trip to Mars with oxygen, water and medicines, a very efficient closed loop food production and waste management recycling system would be required. Some alternatives are being explored in the Advanced Life Support program of the NASA Specialized Center of Research and Training at Purdue University in preparation for the mission to Mars.

Food production technologies that could come in handy for the intrepid space travellers are already here and now. Milk can be produced by bovine mammary glands grown in culture, meat by sheets of animal muscle tissue grown in dishes , essential oils like omega 3 polyunsaturated fats from genetically modified canola, orange juice from juice sacs grown in bioreactors, and edible vaccines against influenza or any other nasty bug from hydroponically grown tomatoes.

But perhaps the solution is to think about agriculture inside the square or vat. In the not to distant future we might need not only food manufacturing factories but food producing factories that are based on animal and plant cells as the smallest production unit rather than multicellular organisms like chickens, oranges, tomatoes or fish.

The spin offs from NASA’s second space exploration program will no doubt surpass innovations such as the personal computer, mobile phone and microwave oven that were developed to fulfil some of the requirements of the first NASA program. This time around the unintended spin offs might deliver new technologies for sustainable production of high value foods and medicines not requiring us to mine our ‘golden soils’ to receive our ‘wealth for toil’.

There is less than 100 Days to go before the Commonwealth Games here in Melbourne. I can’t but wonder if we are going to see the first GM Athletes compete in the pool at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre or in the track and field events at the MCG.

At a recent conference at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm organized by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) gene doping – the unscrupulous use of genetic modification to enhance athletic ability by athletes, sportspeople and coaches was discussed as well as methods of detection of DNA cheats . The testing methodology is still under development and will not be ready for the upcoming Winter Olympics in Torino nor the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

One example of a gene that could potentially be used for gene doping is IGF-1.

US researchers has inserted IGF-1 into the muscles of mice. Humans have this gene as well, and our muscles make IGF-1 to repair themselves. But as we get older, our muscles make less and less of it. The muscles of mice given IGF-1 got on the order of 15 to 20 percent stronger without the animals doing anything. So the introduction of this gene which caused a higher production of IGF-1 caused the muscles to get stronger without any exercise. With exercise the gene altered mice muscles became 30 percent stronger.

According to Brad Kloza in ScienCentral News of the 7 December 2005 the US researchers responsible for the study has gotten hundreds of emails from athletes and coaches who want to test the technique – regardless of safety guarantees. While declining their requests, the willingness to try this untested therapy has convinced the researchers that gene doping will become a reality.

In the same article Richard Pound, president of the WADA is quoted as saying “There will be, if not countries, there will be people in some countries that are going to be prepared to try it. And unfortunately that’s human nature.”

Athletes are looking for something that gives them the edge over the competition. Some are willing to take a risk to gain a benefit.