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Norway To Ban the Use of Oil For Heating Buildings By 2020 (independent.co.uk)
Norway, which is the largest producer of oil and natural gas outside of the Middle East, is set to become the first country in the world to ban the use of gas to heat buildings. The country plans to pass legislation that will stop the use of both oil and paraffin to warm buildings from 2020 onwards. The Independent reports: Vidar Helgesenlaid, the nation's Environment Minister, laid out the plans in a statement, saying: "Those using fossil oil for heating must find other options by 2020." The country advises its citizens to research alternatives to oil such as heat pumps, hydroelectricity, and even special stoves that burn wood chips. By some stage, the legislation could be widened to include restrictions on using natural gas to heat buildings. The Ministry of Climate and Environment said the ban would apply to both new and old buildings and cover both private homes and the public space of businesses and state-owned facilities. The ministry says the plans are expected to lessen Norway's emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases by an estimated 340,000 tons per year, compared to overall national emissions of 53.9 million tons in 2015.
If cutting their emissions by 1% will somehow disproportionately lower global temperature by a noticeable amount, then hooray!
No single measure will have a massive impact on climate change but many of them together will.
Otherwise why take away efficient heating from people in a freezing-cold country? Won't this likely increase the mortality rate among the sick, elderly, etc. come winter?
Welfare in Norway is good enough that this isn't an issue.
Wood is a renewable resource.
Also, when trees are planted to make the wood chips, said trees consume carbon dioxide. Trees and other plants have always done that.
Its warm enough not to need serious heating but cold enough to be uncomfortable.
Yes, most Australians have no central heating (I guess Canberra is an exception?), and often just a lounge-room heater.
Mornings can be cold, which is why we invented ugg-boots. They are really just over-sized slippers, and not to be worn outside the house.
And is shocking to me that people in Norway heat their homes with camping equipment. At least get a wood stove.
Kerosene, in this sense, is basically the same thing as heating oil as used in the US northeast. Kerosene, Diesel, Heating oil, RP-1 rocket propellant, and Jet fuel are all closely related. The main difference is the specific fraction and how much control is put on some of the components.
...si hoc legere nimium eruditionis habes...
How can a building heated by "special stoves that burn wood chips" possibly have lower emissions than one using heating oil ?
Large/mid-scale hog fuel/chip boilers can be extremely efficient and clean. They work by burning the wood chips at high temperatures in an oxygen deprived atmosphere. This produces significant quantities of Carbon Monoxide, Hydrogen, and other flammable gasses. These gasses move to the other part of the boiler, where they are combusted with forced air, heating the water. A portion of the exhaust gasses are then cycled back into the primary combustion chamber, where they serve to reduce the oxygen content and keep the chip bed hot.
Because the majority of the energy comes from combustion in the gas phase, they are extremely clean and low emissions. What ash is produced can be filtered out relatively easily.
...si hoc legere nimium eruditionis habes...
Add to that, the title mentions oil, the first paragraph mentions oil and natural gas as being banned. The quote just talks about Oil. So TFS seems to be written by a fool.
The article is probably confusing the terms "exporter" and "producer" (the US produce more oil, but consumes even more - Norway exports almost everything we produce), and "middle east" with OPEC. Norway used to be #2 there, not sure if it still is.
The ban is on oil furnaces. Gas is irrelevant here, it's not used for heating and cooking here - we mostly use electricity, generated from hydropower.
What does the future of Norway electricity use look like? I assume that their demand for electricity is growing. I assume that after decades of using hydro power that they are running out of good places to put dams.
A quick Google search tells me that Noway is increasingly relying on natural gas and imports for electricity. Seems to me that they've pretty much maxed out their ability to grow hydro power. More efficient uses of their existing electricity supply can stretch that out some, which includes using heat pumps over resistance heating when practical.
If trends continue Norway is going to have to burn more natural gas (and natural gas derived electricity for heat is always going to be more expensive than burning it for heat directly), import more nuclear power from Sweden or...?
The electricity sector in Noway cannot simply ban competition from natural gas because people will vote with their wallets and overturn this ban. I don't see that happening with the possible exception of nuclear power providing an out. This could be Swedish nuclear power or Norwegian nuclear power, but it will be natural gas or nuclear power to fill that gap. Personally I'd like to see growth in nuclear power but I also have nothing against natural gas.
Actually, the forecast is an increasing surplus in of electricity in Norway, even after electrification of the transportation sector (goal: all new small cars should be zero emission by 2025).
There is no use of natural gas in power production in Norway today, with the exception of off shore oil platforms. There was one plant, but it closed down.
such an American answer.