{"id":276014,"date":"2023-08-28T14:44:46","date_gmt":"2023-08-28T12:44:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=276014"},"modified":"2023-08-28T14:44:48","modified_gmt":"2023-08-28T12:44:48","slug":"scandalous-scandinavians-rely-on-nukes-oil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=276014","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Scandalous\u2019 Scandinavians rely on nukes, oil"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From\u00a0CFACT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0Duggan Flanakin<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What a paradox! \u00a0The Scandinavian nations \u2014 Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland \u2013 remain at the top of the World Economic Forum\u2019s\u00a0Energy Transition Index<\/a>\u00a0for 2023. Yet Sweden and Finland rely heavily on nuclear energy, and Norway is a significant producer of oil and gas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Norway\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s more, Norway\u00a0has just announced<\/a>\u00a0it had authorized oil companies to develop 19 oil and gas fields with a total investment of $18.51 billion \u2013 part of a strategy to extend production for decades. Norway 2020 introduced temporary tax incentives to encourage petroleum investment, and in 2022 Norway overtook Russia as Europe\u2019s biggest supplier of natural gas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Norway\u2019s lucrative oil and gas industry in 2020 produced 740 million barrels of crude oil per day (over half for export), and 112 billion cubic meters of natural gas (nearly all for export). The petroleum industry accounts for 40 percent of Norway\u2019s exports and 14 percent of its GDP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over 90 percent of Norwegian electricity comes from hydropower, with wind a very distant second. Norwegian wind, however, suffered\u00a0a heavy blow<\/a>\u00a0two years ago when the nation\u2019s supreme court stripped two wind farms of their operating licenses after reindeer herders argued that wind turbines were frightening animals grazing nearby and jeopardizing age-old traditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wind energy is being used offshore Norway to supply\u00a0power<\/a>\u00a0to its North Sea oil and gas platforms. Oil giant Equinor partnered with two other companies to build the world\u2019s largest floating wind farm, which will produce about 35 percent of the electricity needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sweden<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thirty years after \u201cdeciding\u201d to abandon nuclear energy, the Swedish government in 2010 had a change of heart. Furthering its commitment, the government in January announced plans to build at least ten large reactors over the next 20 years to meet the growing demand for low-carbon energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last month, Sweden announced plans to lift a long-time ban on uranium mining to support its domestic nuclear industry. Several companies, including Australia\u2019s Aura Energy and Canada\u2019s District Metals, have expressed interest in developing sites.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson said wind and solar power are too \u201cunstable\u201d to meet energy demands in Greta Thunberg\u2019s home country. To ensure a supply of \u201cstable\u201d energy, Sweden\u00a0changed its energy target<\/a>\u00a0from 100 percent renewable to 100 percent fossil-free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to<\/a>\u00a0Climate Minister Romina Pourmokhtari, \u201cThe climate transition requires a doubling of electricity production in the next 20 years, and nuclear power plays a decisive role for us to succeed.\u201d Nuclear reactors\u00a0today provide<\/a>\u00a0more than a third of Sweden\u2019s electricity, behind hydro (which provides about half) and ahead of wind and biomass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0World Economic Forum<\/a>\u00a0does not consider nuclear energy as \u201crenewable,\u201d though nuclear energy is essentially carbon-free. Doubtless, that distinction is a significant reason why climate extremists are horrified. Lund University professor Lars J. Nilsson, a member of the European climate advisory board,\u00a0discounted<\/a>\u00a0the government\u2019s nuclear stance as \u201csymbolic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nilsson, who claims \u201cthe expansion of electricity production in Sweden is through wind power,\u201c fears that Sweden\u2019s reputation as a \u201cgreen leader\u201d on the global stage is shifting. Sweden, he says, does not need that many nuclear plants \u2014 ignoring the export potential. France, for example, relies on nuclear for 70 percent of its electricity,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sweden holds 80 percent of the EU\u2019s uranium deposits and already extracts uranium as a waste product when mining for other metals. Today,\u00a0Russia dominates<\/a>\u00a0the processing of nuclear fuel, while Kazakhstan produces 43 percent of mined uranium. Another 15 percent comes from Canada, while Namibia supplies 11 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finland<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finland is the Scandinavian nation with the most diverse electricity generation sources. Nuclear energy remains on top, at nearly 60 billion kilowatt-hours, or about a third of the total. Hydro and biomass together accounted for 40 percent, with wind and fossil fuels well behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Olkiluoto 3, the first\u00a0new European nuclear reactor<\/a>\u00a0in more than 15 years, brought the price of electricity in Finland down by 75 percent from December 2022 to April 2023. With heavy snowfalls last winter, the nation\u2019s hydroelectric plants are also cranking out more significant than average amounts of electric power, pushing prices down to near zero. Finns were already using less than usual amounts of electricity in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Denmark<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Denmark until recently, had been a significant oil-producing nation, thanks to its North Sea operations. Oil production began in 1972, peaked at 22.6 million cubic meters in 2004, but has dropped to just 3.8 million cubic meters in 2021. In 2020,\u00a0the Danish government<\/a>\u00a0opted to end all new oil and gas exploration in the North Sea and pledged to stop extracting fossil fuels by 2050. Danes rely on wind turbines for well over half their electricity, but nearly a quarter comes from burning biomass \u2013 fossil fuels still supplied 15 percent in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Method in their \u201cmadness\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Norway\u2019s geography makes hydro-a-affordable, so it hardly uses fossil fuels for electricity. Norway also\u00a0leads the world<\/a>\u00a0in electric vehicles -79 percent of new registrations in 2022 were EVs \u2013 but has no intention of foregoing its primary source of export revenue. North Sea oil and gas will bring Norway $131 billion in revenues in 2023 alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Swedes and Finns, while relying significantly on hydropower, are for now, firm believers in nuclear energy. Finland just fired up the first European nuclear plant in 15 years, and Sweden is on a path to double its own nuclear capacity. Only Denmark is backing away from fuels the World Economic Forum does not declare to be \u201crenewable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet there could be another reason the Norwegians, Swedes, and Finns are willing to buck the climate extremists to whom even nuclear is the Devil incarnate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NEWS FLASH!!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The radical green CleanTechnica was salivating in citing a new report by Danish scientists Peter and Susanne Ditlevsen that \u201cthere is ample evidence\u201d that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), commonly known as the Gulf Stream, could collapse as early as 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe collapse of the Gulf Stream- an epitaph\u00a0for a Dying Planet\u201d predicts the imminent collapse will \u201cseverely disrupt the rains that billions of people depend on for food in India, South America, and West Africa\u201d and also increase storms and dramatically lower temperatures across Europe. And more!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A shuddering Peter Ditlevsen says, \u201cI think we should be very worried.\u201d Cleantechnica blames the \u201calmost certain\u201d collapse on \u201cthe burning of fossil fuels [which] has added the heat of 25 billion atomic bombs.\u201d Millions will surely die because \u201cwe have refused to listen\u201d even as \u201cour seas boil, our forests burn, and our cities become too hot to step outside.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whew! Yet Ben Booth of the Met Office Hadley Centre says the paper\u2019s conclusions are \u201cfar from settled science,\u201d and even the IPCC thinks the collapse may not be so imminent. According to the BBC, many scientists\u2019 reservations focus on assumptions made by the Ditlevsens, noting that the climate system is highly complex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if the Ditlevsens are correct, and temperatures in the North Atlantic fall by 10 to 15 degrees, the Scandinavians\u2019 energy decisions may be their only salvation. Regional cooling, not global warming, could be in the very near future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just don\u2019t bet the farm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article originally appeared at\u00a0Town Hall<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n


Duggan Flanakin<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duggan Flanakin is a Senior Policy Analyst with the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A former Senior Fellow with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, Mr. Flanakin authored definitive works on the creation of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and on environmental education in Texas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A brief history of his multifaceted career appears in his book, “Infinite Galaxies: Poems from the Dugout.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What a paradox! \u00a0The Scandinavian nations \u2014 Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland \u2013 remain at the top of the World Economic Forum\u2019s\u00a0Energy Transition Index\u00a0for 2023. Yet Sweden and Finland rely heavily on nuclear energy, and Norway is a significant producer of oil and gas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":276027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691822133,691819094,691819701,691818108],"class_list":{"0":"post-276014","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-climate-extremists","9":"tag-renewable-green-energy","10":"tag-scandinavia","11":"tag-world-economic-forum","13":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/0dancing-over-hamnoy-532431267-5aa18ee91d640400376c1ab2.jpg?fit=4048%2C2460&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-19NQ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":248482,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=248482","url_meta":{"origin":276014,"position":0},"title":"Norway rejects electricity cable project with Scotland","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"18\/03\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"With a capacity of 1,400 MW, NorthConnect would have enabled the two countries to exchange renewable energies - wind power from Scotland, hydro power from Norway - via a 665-kilometre (413-mile) cable under the North Sea.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-706.png?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-706.png?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-706.png?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-706.png?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-706.png?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":254126,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=254126","url_meta":{"origin":276014,"position":1},"title":"Russian \u2019spy ships\u2018 linked to North Sea wind farms sabotage plan","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"22\/04\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"This puts a whole new slant on claims of wind power boosting energy security.","rel":"","context":"In \"Denmark\"","block_context":{"text":"Denmark","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=denmark"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0YAYMFVFJU4W0MJ00I1L8.jpg?fit=1200%2C782&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0YAYMFVFJU4W0MJ00I1L8.jpg?fit=1200%2C782&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0YAYMFVFJU4W0MJ00I1L8.jpg?fit=1200%2C782&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0YAYMFVFJU4W0MJ00I1L8.jpg?fit=1200%2C782&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0YAYMFVFJU4W0MJ00I1L8.jpg?fit=1200%2C782&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":209126,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=209126","url_meta":{"origin":276014,"position":2},"title":"New Study: The Reality of the Medieval Warm Period Confirmed by Changes in Agricultural Practices","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"18\/07\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Due to a \u201crelatively stable warm climate\u201d the Medieval Warm Period (800 to 1300 CE) was a period of expanding Scandinavian population, increasing trade, food and goods production. 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