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Western Europe’s biggest petroleum producer is falling out of love with oil.
To the dismay of the nation’s powerful oil industry and its worker unions, the opposition Labor Party over the weekend decided to withdraw its support for oil exploration offshore the sensitive Lofoten islands in Norway’s Arctic, creating a solid majority in parliament to keep the area off limits for drilling.
The dramatic shift by Norway’s biggest party is a significant blow to the support the oil industry has enjoyed, and could signal that the Scandinavian nation is coming closer to the end of an era that made it one of the world’s most affluent.
How will Norway pay for its social safety network without oil revenues?
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Norway Is Walking Away from Billions of Barrels of Oil
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Everything is worth precisely as much as a belch, the difference being
that a belch is more satisfying.
-- Ingmar Bergman
(Score: 2) by canopic jug on Tuesday April 09 2019, @07:05AM (9 children)
Norway is only around %3 arable land and an increasing amount of that is covered by business parks, suburban sprawl, and other forms of asphalt. Their once famous fishing industry is history. Overfishing, warming ocean waters, and way too many imported crabs have killed that off. But, if they've continued to invest their oil money well then they'll be able to continue to buy their own food, assuming there is any surplus left elsewhere that other countries remain willing to sell. Depending on how much energy they can get from tidal and wind power, there might be somewhat of a future for indoor farming in the tunnels they are so good at boring.
Even in the US, fossil fuels are a stranded asset. Even lame old solar employs more people than coal [forbes.com]. Renewables are where the money is at these days. Further, there is no ash runoff to ruin the water (and thus the fish) in the country's remaning trout streams. Placement of wind turbines is an issue though. Placed incorrectly, where birds gather or travel regularly for migration, they can act like a cuisinart for birds.
However, there are a growing number of social problems that might take them down for good, since they look like those are being swept under the rug rather than solved.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Gaaark on Tuesday April 09 2019, @11:19AM (5 children)
"Renewables are where the money is at these days. Further, there is no ash runoff to ruin the water (and thus the fish) in the country's remaning trout streams"
Could you come to Canada and point this out to Trudeau and Alberta?
Please?
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday April 09 2019, @03:26PM (4 children)
He'd need to make it true first. Renewables are still not going to make you any significant money at the moment. If you invest in everything now some of them will likely make you a lot of money a ways down the road but a lot of them are going to just lose you your investment entirely.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday April 09 2019, @05:58PM (3 children)
I dunno: SOMEONE'S making enough money off it that they're continuing to do it.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday April 12 2019, @03:24AM (2 children)
Not really. Most green energy companies seem to lose far more money than they make and last only until the initial capital runs out they can't get any more loans. I'd be very skeptical even of the large ones that have been around a while and are producing a lot of energy at this point. It's not like no company has ever cooked the books before and someone who thinks they're doing it for the greater good is even more likely to do it than someone who just wants lots of money.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Friday April 12 2019, @02:23PM (1 child)
I'd like to see those books, absent subsidies (paid by taxpayers) and venture capital (often intended to be blown, as a tax writeoff). My guess would be there's actually no such thing as profitable renewables.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday April 12 2019, @06:43PM
Hard to say. Depends on if they feel the need for insane growth at the expense of staying in the red. I'm certain it can be done profitably but I wouldn't trust anyone who's in the business because of the word 'green' to make any significant decisions or handle the money.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @01:30PM (2 children)
Warming waters (by less than a degree) killed off the fish. You have to be an idiot to believe this stuff.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @04:49PM (1 child)
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 10 2019, @04:40AM
I've got experience with reef tanks, there is no requirement to keep the temperature within 1 degree the optimal on average.