Beef is a bigger eco-burden than ethanol, say Swedes, who’ve seen large increases in the sale of ethanol-run cars over the last few month. The increasing demand for ethanol in the country highlights the ever more prevalent debate on ethanol’s effect on food prices and the food shortage crisis. The Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet printed a series of articles and studies arguing that beef production does a lot more to exacerbate eco-problems than ethanol. According to one study conducted by Gothenburg’s Chalmers University, only 1 percent of the world’s arable acreage is planted with crops to be used in ethanol production, while 1/3 of all global arable acreage (500 million hectares) is used for milk and meat production – even though milk/beef products make up only around 15 percent of our total food basket.

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A state-owned Swedish real estate firm plans to generate up to 15% of the heat for its new offices from “body heat from a quarter million commuters steaming through Stockholm’s central train station,” according to Reuters.

The company, Jernhusen, which also owns the train station, already relies on body heat to warm the train station, but the surplus has been simply been escaping into thin air. With a modest investment of about $31,200, Jernhusen is installing pumps and pipes that will redirect the body heat to warm up water that will then be used to heat Jernhusen’s new office. Seems fitting that Sweden, already famous for its saunas, would find a way to harness all that man-made heat.