Methanol as future fuel

Efforts to develop alternative fuels in Sweden after the Oil Crisis

Bibliographic Data

ID14800341
AuthorsErland Mårald (0000-0002-2291-9910, Russian State Agrarian Correspondence University, corresponding author)
Year2010
Volume26
Issue4
Pages335-357
Publication date2010-12-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueHistory and Technology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0734-1512 • E-ISSN: 1477-2620
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/07341512.2010.523175
OpenAlexW2095270673
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited16

The 1973 Oil Crisis was a wake‐up call for Sweden. Sweden’s high reliance on foreign energy supply and the lack of domestic fossil energy sources hit private motoring hard. In the aftermath of the crisis, methanol was seen as a promising alternative fuel. This article analyzes how, who, and for what reasons methanol fuel was promoted in Sweden in the 1970s and early 1980s. Furthermore, the study places the efforts to establish methanol as fuel in an international framework and in the broader context of the Energy Program and the government’s objective to plan for a new energy future for Sweden. This article especially examines forecasting motor fuels and automobiles and how foresight was used in relation to the methanol campaign. The article argues that in the case of the Swedish methanol campaign the upcoming development in the energy sector was mostly described as smooth and calculable. Both the state and the industry planned for a post‐petroleum era, in which methanol fuel played a vital role. However, they were unwilling to take any decisive step until circumstances were right, but since circumstances never seemed appropriate, methanol as a fuel was always deferred to a distant future

Alternative fuels · Business · Economic policy · Economics · Economy · Fossil fuel · Futures studies · Petroleum · Waste management · Engineering · Subcritical and Supercritical Water Processes

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