logo
episode-header-image
Aug 2022
18m 4s

Sweden’s light time economy

Bbc World Service
About this episode

What’s it like to live in permanent daylight for part of the year? Elizabeth Hotson travels around Swedish Lapland to see how one of the most modern economies in the world takes advantage of the twenty four hour summer sun. Elizabeth finds out how a hotel made of ice is kept frozen with solar power, and why the midnight sun is vital to the ancient tradition of reindeer herding in northern Sweden. We also hear how Sweden’s mountain and nature tourism industry developed and why modern businesses like bars and restaurants can capitalise on the never-ending daylight. Plus, we hear from visitors experiencing the midnight sun for the first time.

Producer: Elizabeth Hotson Presenter: Elizabeth Hotson

Picture Credit: the midnight sun in Sweden via Getty Images

Up next
Jul 10
Business Daily meets: Max Levchin
The fintech entrepreneur tells us about co-founding PayPal, and how an embarrassing personal moment when trying to buy a car, led him to start the buy now, pay later company Affirm.Produced and presented by Leanna Byrne(Image: PayPal Co-Founder & Affirm CEO Max Levchin in 2019. C ... Show More
17m 34s
Jul 9
The impact of 'thirsty' data centres
We're in the US state of Georgia, where huge data centres need water to keep cool. But how is this need for cloud storage and AI capability affecting local residents and the environment?Presenter: Michelle Fleury Producer: Nathalie Jimenez(Image: Georgia resident Beverly Morris l ... Show More
17m 50s
Jul 8
Does university still get you a well-paid job?
Graduates are facing one of the toughest jobs markets in decades. We hear from students in India, the US and UK about whether they feel a university or college degree is worth it as we discuss the cost of attending university around the world and what your job prospects might be ... Show More
17m 27s
Recommended Episodes
Apr 2023
Sweden’s Northvolt Electric Battery Maker: A Startup with a Mission
In Stockholm, Sweden an upstart battery maker, Northvolt, is trying to recreate the value chain for European car manufacturers making the switch to EVs. With two founders from Tesla and two experienced financiers at the helm, the company seems bound for success. But can they part ... Show More
30m 44s
Jun 2012
Cameron's Swede Dreams
What's so great about Sweden? The British left has long been obsessed with Sweden. Now the Conservatives are too. Little wonder: the country always tops the global charts for happiness and social cohesion; its economy is dynamic and its deficit is low. In this week's Analysis, Jo ... Show More
28m 13s
Oct 2010
Solar-powered lamp and charger
The very last episode in Neil MacGregor's history of humanity as told through the things that time has left behind. The director of the British Museum in London has spent the past year choosing objects from the museum's vast collection to represent a two million year story of hum ... Show More
13m 34s
Aug 2023
Surprising solar
The fast growth of solar power is a success story in the fight against climate change. However, in some countries progress is being stymied by opposition to large solar farms in the countryside.But enterprising people are trying to keep the solar momentum going, by finding less o ... Show More
25m 24s
Apr 2020
Sweden’s climate solution is now the Sámi people’s problem
For the Sámi indigenous people, the year begins in spring when the reindeer calves are born. Nature guides how they live their lives, but they can't read nature like they used to. A warming planet is threatening their way of life in northern Sweden, and efforts to save their land ... Show More
20m 7s
Aug 2019
Solar PV
Solar power has been harnessed by civilisations since the days of the ancient Greeks, but it's now on the verge of being more important than ever. Tim Harford examines how much of a challenge it poses to the energy establishment, and what that could mean for the planet's future. 
9m 49s
Apr 2017
TV Dinner
The way educated women spend their time in the United States and other rich countries has changed radically over the past half a century. Women in the US now spend around 45 minutes per day in total on cooking and cleaning up; that is still much more than men, who spend just 15 m ... Show More
9m 8s
Dec 2016
Lightbulb
Once too precious to use, now too cheap to notice – the significance of the lightbulb is profound. Imagine a hard week’s work gathering and chopping wood, ten hours a day for six days. Those 60 hours of work would produce light equivalent to one modern bulb shining for just 54 mi ... Show More
8m 58s
Jan 2024
Finding light in the Danish Winter Darkness
Many internationals newly arrived in Denmark struggle with the long Danish winter.  The darkness that starts to fall in the early afternoon means that 5pm looks just like 8pm, which looks just like midnight, which looks just like 5am. Dense, inky black sky. During the daytime the ... Show More
7m 10s