Dear Ms Hatt - What are you thinking?

Ms Anna Karin Hatt is a member of the same party as me - the Center party of Sweden. I have heard her in several debates over the year, and since she became minister of energy in Sweden I had hopes for more solar and less fossil fuels in government strategies. So what is Anna Karin thinking on these issues? A short excerpt from a question in the Swedish Parliament last week that I read at Kjell Alekletts blog::

Minister Hatt: "Regardless of where we live in Sweden we are dependent on efficient transport. What is important for me and the government is to take concrete measures and continue step by step to institute the Alliance’s energy and environmental policies so that by 2030 we can already have a vehicle fleet that is independent of fossil fuels. This will advantage both the Swedish economy and employment."

So, aren't those words nice you think? Well, I am not happy at all. Ms Hatt (inadvertedly?) rules out major change in the transportation paradigm as she focuses on existing technology - i.e. cars, buses, trains etc. It is a never ending story of not being able to think out of the box - a series of ministers and elected officials follows the same path in their thought processes. Ines Uusman, a former minister of IT in Sweden (as our current Ms Hatt is) said May 1996:

Minister Uusman: "Everyone talks about the internet but it is maybe passing and later the focus will be more specific"

Well Ines, Internet was a slightly bigger issue than you thought. So will the future mass transportation solutions be - much less cars, much more automation than Ms Hatt realizes. And the energy is the key - we don't need almost any fossil fuels at all, let's use the sun combined with intelligent storage such as hydro and other smart technologies. An old but still very valid video: