Umeå is a fast-growing, environmentally conscious city in Northern Sweden that’s aiming to continue growing based on ecological, economic and social sustainability. The Smart Living Lab is a central hub for innovations and ideas to achieve this vision. Located 600 km north of Stockholm, Umeå is the 11th largest city in Sweden. It has a subarctic climate, with short and fairly warm summers, but long, freezing winters, which poses challenges for efficient energy use for both buildings and transport.

Sara Cultural Centre, one of the world’s tallest timber buildings, is located in Skellefteå, just below the artic circle in the north of Sweden. The building houses venues for arts, performances and meetings as well as a hotel, and has been constructed with the latest energy solutions. In 2021, the doors will open to a unique and dynamic meeting point combining culture and entertainment with conference facilities, directly connected to a new premium hotel, culinary experiences, a spa and a range of settings for events.

A major challenge for electric vehicles in northern Europe is adapting them to the cold climate to improve their operation, as well as their passenger and driver comfort. In Umeå, the company Hybricon has solved this problem with an advanced system for air heating and cooling. The technology, developed in Umeå, allows electric buses to run during very cold winter days as well as hot, sunny days, thanks to an advanced air heating and cooling system.

ReTuna Återbruksgalleria is the world’s first recycling mall, marking the start of a low-carbon shopping revolution. Old items are given new life through repair and upcycling. Everything sold is either recycled or reused, or has been produced organically or sustainably. The mall opened its doors in August 2015 and is located right next to the city’s recycling centre. This makes it easier for visitors to drop off unwanted and reusable items at the mall’s depot or ‘Returen’. Depot staff sort what is usable and what isn’t, and then distribute the retained items to the mall’s shops.

Värtahamnen harbour is home to Stockholm’s largest biofuel-powered combined heat and power (CHP) plant. The plant produces enough energy to heat approximately 190,000 average-size apartments. The combined heat and power plant at Värtahamnen, also known as or KVV8, was inaugurated in 2016 and produces heat and electricity through the combustion of solid biomass, consisting mainly of residuals from the forest product industry such as chips, branches and tops.

In the journey towards a carbon-negative energy production, Sweden’s first bioenergy carbon capture and storage pilot plant was commissioned in 2019. This project is a part of Stockholm’s target towards a positive carbon footprint by 2040. As early as 2018, the IPCC climate panel concluded that reducing CO2 emissions was not enough to meet the Paris agreement objectives. What was also needed, it said, was to cut the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere through ‘negative emissions’ or ‘carbon sinks’.

In central Stockholm, you find one of Europe’s largest district heating and cooling systems. Close to 90% of the city’s buildings are connected to the district heating network, which uses several innovative energy sources, such as excess heat and wastewater. Stockholm Exergi is responsible for heating and cooling production in the region of Stockholm.

Northvolt in Skellefteå is the greenest battery plant in Europe, providing sustainable replacement of fossil fuels through the large-scale manufacture of batteries for the electrification of transport and vehicles. What’s more, the plant uses 100% green energy. Electrification and renewable energy storage are key to a carbon-neutral society and the electrification of transport and vehicles. The ability to store energy is also crucial to free the world’s energy generation and distribution from coal, oil and natural gas.

In 2018, the electricity grid around Malå, Sweden, was fitted with a Smart Grid Surveillance system that detects and locates faults and deviations in the grid. The solution enables much more efficient and proactive maintenance, saving time and money. Exeri’s Smart Grid Surveillance system features smart sensors, redundant radio communication, AI algorithms and advanced data analysis, allowing it to detect and locate faults in the electricity grid. It’s a big leap in the development of smart grids, offering major benefits in reduced downtime and more efficient monitoring and operation.

The island of Gotland has been chosen as a pilot region for Sweden’s transition to a future sustainable energy system. The main requirements for this transition are a safe, reliable energy supply that is both ecologically sustainable and economically competitive. Sweden has set a goal of achieving zero net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2045. As part of this, the Swedish Energy Agency has been commissioned to ensure that Gotland is a pilot area ahead of the transition to a sustainable energy system.