Volvo has recently announced that its truck-making business has signed an energy supply contract with utility Vattenfall. The contract specified that none of the company’s electricity will be generated from nuclear power plants by 2008.
According to Volvo’s environmental chief Inge Horkeby, the nuclear energy is not in line with the company’s environmental goals. She told the Dagens Nyheter newspaper, “We place nuclear energy far down the scale. It’s not sustainable from a number of aspects.”
“The raw materials used to produce nuclear energy are a finite resource and the waste management problem has not been solved,” she added.
In contrast however, a position statement on Volvo’s website said, “Volvo is not opposed to nuclear energy… Taking into account the climate issue, our view is that nuclear energy is needed in the energy system – perhaps even more nuclear power than today.”
Under the agreement between Volvo and Vattenfall, only Sweden is covered. The Swedish automaker said, “We have agreed on receiving renewable energy – nuclear energy is not renewable. The reason we made this demand is to help bring other alternative energy sources to the market. Accordingly, the aim of the agreement is not to eliminate nuclear energy but to choose alternatives in an effort to increase the availability of renewable energy on the market.” Thus, the company is still eager to continue the use of nuclear-generated electricity outside Sweden.
Volvo said, in its statement, “We would like to see that a parliamentary commission is appointed with the mission of investigating what the conditions are for continued use of nuclear power – particularly taking into account the fourth-generation.”
“We are not prepared to say that we should expand nuclear energy. What we are prepared to say, however, is that we believe that it would be favourable if we dared to again take a look and seriously investigate the conditions for the future of nuclear energy against the background of the technology development that has occurred since the referendum in 1980. There has not been any new thinking about nuclear energy in Sweden since then,” it continued.
Since the 1970s, Volvo holds environmental consideration as one of its core values. The company has said that its long-term objectives included the increase in use of the carbon dioxide-neutral energy, the reduction of energy consumption by 50% per manufactured unit and the no longer use of coal or oil for heating.
Volvo also stated its goals in powering all of its worldwide plants with the use of renewable energy sources. The company said that its truck plant in Ghent, Belgium, is actually the world’s first vehicle factory to be totally carbon dioxide-free. Most of the plant’s energy is being supplied by onsite wind turbines and a biomass production facility. Some electricity is being provided by Electrabel from renewable sources. At present, the plant produces 40,000 truck units (equipped with quality Volvo floor mats and other genuine parts) annually.
Volvo Trucks’ Europe Division President Claes Nilsson said, “We are fully aware of the environmental problems we have in the world today and we’re working to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide in both fixed facilities and from vehicles.”
“However, for practical and economic reasons it is simpler to make a factory carbon-dioxide free, something we achieved within a period of two years.”
