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Uppsala is one of Sweden’s largest municipalities, with a population of 188,000 inhabitants.The city has a long tradition in trying out new ideas and technologies, much due to the fact that two large and modern universities are situated in the city. Also, many companies in Uppsala work in research and development, especially within the fields of medicine, medical technology, biotechnology and pharmaceutics. Uppsala has worked for a better environment for a long time.We have a district heating plant that runs on almost 60% bio-fuels and a bio-gas plant that provides fuel for the city’s buses. Even though the city is situated in a northerly part of Sweden,there are projects in process within the solar energy field at the Ångström Laboratory. Uppsala has also done extensive work regarding road traffic and its emissions.We have a large and well functioning public transport system, with buses and park-and-ride car parks. The municipality is involved in several projects to reduce the emissions and crowding caused by road traffic. Since Uppsala began working with "Agenda 21" in 1994, many networks have been started within the municipality’s organisation as well as outside. Uppsala feels that these networks help in achieving goals regarding the environment. The municipality’s main goal is to base its energy supply on renewable energy sources. Other aims are to reduce energy consumption per capita by 20% and road traffic emissions of carbon dioxide by 25%.An expansion of the infrastructure is aimed to bring about a reduction of the total traffic on the roads.These goals will be reached through an expansion of the bio-gas plant and a more efficient use of the sun as an energy source. |