Abstract
The incineration rate of municipal solid waste in Sweden is 48%. All the 34 incineration facilities in Sweden utilize incineration heat for district heating (DH). The scale of district heating is expanding in Sweden. How much thermal energy is recovered from the incineration process and used for DH? Why and how increased use of incineration heat is expanding? This paper first grasps the statistics of the whole country, followed by a case study. That is, by analyzing the interaction among relevant actors on incineration heat use, the paper tries to explore the governance factors of increased use of incineration heat for DH.
As a result of the analysis, it was found that expansion of incineration heat and its use for DH is positioned as a sustainable energy strategy for low carbon economy rather than aiming sorely at waste management. On the other hand, it can be seen that the various governance conditions that are characteristic of Sweden, i.e. decentralization, expansion of new public management, the determination of environmental goals by political leadership and civilian control, are in the background of the increased use of the incineration heat.
