Sweden wants to work with U.S. on renewable energy, leader says

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said Thursday his country is interested in U.S. research on renewable energy and would like to see more cooperation on study and innovation.

Reinfeldt toured the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, just outside Denver, to review developments on solar energy, biofuels, wind power and hybrid vehicles.

NREL is the nation's primary laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development.

Reinfeldt also met with Gov. Bill Ritter, who made development of renewable energy a key part of his election campaign last year.

Reinfeldt said that was a surprise to him.

"I don't think that's always the picture of the United States in Europe," he said.

Ritter said Reinfeldt and Sweden proved that renewable energy strategies can work, reducing greenhouse gases by 7 percent while growing the economy 36 percent.

Reinfeldt said he was impressed with his tour of NREL and he wants to find ways to make renewable energy pay off.

"Sometimes we have the knowledge, but we can't produce it onto the market," he said.

Reinfeldt also got a briefing on NREL's research on Zero-Energy Homes, which will produce as much energy as they consume.

He said there need to be discussions on ways to reach global agreements to deal with climate change, not just regional agreements on trading systems to reduce greenhouse gases.

"We have to talk to each other," he said.

Reinfeldt also met with President Bush during his U.S. visit. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said the two nations have similar goals.

"Like the United States, Sweden has set a bold vision for its energy policy," he said in a written release. "We look forward to working with and learning from Sweden to help achieve a cleaner and more secure energy future."