Over the two days of the seminar, representatives from Swedish biogas companies and Ecoex will explain more about how Sweden is phasing out oil as an energy source, and replacing it with biogas. Bill Shore, Regional Manager of the Piedmont Triad Regional Office of the North Carolina Department of Commerce, has been cooperating with Region Västra Götaland for the past five years. It is due to his efforts that American decision-makers and industry leaders will have an opportunity to meet with Swedes who are involved within the biogas field.

And interest from North Carolina is enormous. Over 40 decision-makers have accepted invitations to participate in the upcoming February workshop/seminar. “Our philosophy is simple: the Swedes have the technology, and it works. So, there is no need for us to ‘reinvent the wheel.´ By working collaboratively with Region Västra Götaland, we can help our companies learn Swedish technology, and then apply it here, thereby reducing our own dependency on fossil fuels in North Carolina and, indeed, in the United States--once others learn about the amazing successes that the inventive Swedish scientists have had," says Bill Shore.

Among other things, the Swedish delegates will show how slurry from sewage treatment plants can be collected and converted into biogas for vehicles. They will also show how biogas can be recovered from old, closed-down garbage dumps by simple means, which also reduces greenhouse gas emissions from the dumps. “We will also demonstrate good examples of how modern biogas handling techniques are used in Sweden throughout the entire production chain, covering everything from how families separate their food waste to
how vehicle gas is sold," says Per Wennerberg, export coordinator at Ecoex, one of the coarrangers of the seminar

The Swedish delegates will also discuss efficient solutions for recovering biogas from the abattoir waste from the millions of pigs that are slaughtered every year in North Carolina. They will also show how we in Sweden collect manure from farms and convert it into biogas, and then use the residue as fertilizer. North Carolina is the U.S.´s second largest pork producer.

The aim of the visit is for the Swedish delegates to help people in North Carolina find solutions and develop projects where modern biogas production can be started up. “We are hoping to establish a long-term relationship with people in North Carolina. We believe their businesses can gain from our experience and competence in biogas," says Göran Värmby of Business Region Göteborg, and Chairman of Ecoex.
Press Release