As Norway and the US Move to Decarbonize Transport Legacy Energy Sources Are a Key Differentiator
“When considering the US transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, it is helpful to look at a country further along than our own. Norway has some significant commonalities with the US most importantly, both countries are oil and gas rich. Yet Norway exports most of its fossil fuels, while the US consumes most of theirs These two countries, both rich in oil and gas, face a giant challenge of divesting from fossil fuel production to lower greenhouse gas emissions,” reports Ian Palmer in Forbes.
“Norway has been particularly successful in changing their transport to electric vehicles (EVs), but the US has lagged. The data on energy sources best exposes the differences between Norway and the USA Oil production is big in Norway, about an eighth of that in the US. It also provides about 14% of Norway’s budget revenue and so is a huge asset. The big picture is that renewables production in Norway is only 14% of the total energy produced. This is similar to 21% in the US (Table 1). The simple reason is because both countries are big producers of oil and gas.”
