Economic Growth, Energy Consumption & Co2 Emissions in Sweden 1800-2000 (Lund Studies in Economic History, 19)

This PhD dissertation discusses large transformations of technologies have occurred in the Swedish economy during the last two centuries, resulting in higher income, better quality of products and changing composition of GDP. An agrarian society has given way to an industrial society and lately to a post-industrial phase. The energy supply systems have changed, from traditional energy carriers, such as firewood and muscle energy to modern carriers like coal, oil and electricity, with effects on CO2 emissions. Not only has the energy supply gone through fundamental changes, but also forest management, which affects the net emissions of CO2. The interrelations of growth, energy and CO2 are analyzed in this thesis, which uses standard calculations, relative effects of structural and technical changes, including changes in energy carrier composition to explain the long term delinking of energy consumption, CO2 emissions and economic growth that takes place.