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NORWAY IS LEADING THE WAY TOWARDS THE USE OF RENEWABLE ENERGY

                        From Worldometer (new  COVID-19 deaths yesterday):

        DAY  USA  WORLD   Brazil    India    South Africa

June     9    1093     4732         1185        246       82
July    22     1205     7128         1293      1120     572
Aug    12     1504     6556        1242        835     130
Sept     9     1208      6222       1136       1168       82
Oct     21     1225      6849         571        703       85
Nov    25      2304    12025        620        518      118
Dec    30      3880    14748       1224       299      465
Jan     14       4142     15512        1151        189      712              
Feb      3       4005    14265       1209       107      398
Mar     2        1989      9490        1726       110      194
April   6          906     11787         4211       631       37
May    4         853     13667         3025     3786      59 
June   1         287    10637         2346      3205       95
 July   7          251      8440        1595        817       411
Aug    4          656    10120        1118         532      423 
Sept   1        1480    10470          703        505      235
          8        1700      9836          250        339     253
        14        1934      9001          709        281      300
        22       2228      9326          839        279      124
        29        2190      8859         643        309     108
Oct    5        1811       7495          686        285     103
          6        2102       8255         543        315       59
         11        1480       6784          176        229       83

Summary:  looking better.

I've long admired the success and humanity of Norway.  In one of my more remarkable trips:

I embarked on an $18,000 (just expenses) trip in October and November of 2005 to Reunion Island, located in the Indian Ocean, then going on to Paris, Oslo, Bergen and London. The expense was high because there were some paid upgraded segments. This was certainly in the top 10 of worst and best trips, showing enormous promise for future interaction (see The Free Hydrogen Age and the Blue Revolution in Book 1). Mauritius was a late add-on, and a pleasant one.  They are my hope for the Blue Revolution.

The first stop was Le Reunion, which was the most difficult part of the journey.  The French do a terrible job of colonization, while the British do it right.  Next to Le Reunion is Mauritius, which was wonderful.  Take Southeast Asia, where the French Vietnam led to a war, while the British Singapore became a model of success.  Here is where Lee Kuan Yew came, and copied their social system to develop Singapore.

After Mauritius, I was supposed to spend some time with the United Nations in Paris, but on flying in I saw the city burning, so I immediately caught the next plane for Oslo.  To further quote:

Why, then, is Norway so terrific?  There is no homeless, nor insects, true peace of mind (you can actually walk the parks at night), and everything works. The bathrooms and airports (when you want to leave Bergen, there is no check--in desk--you must use those scary looking machines, but someone is there to help you) are well engineered, elevators arrive within 10 seconds (if not already there—in London, the average wait is more than a minute), cities and public lavatories that are really clean, with soft paper towels, and a transportation system that is frequent and dependable. The people are attractive and nice, with no obvious obesity problem.

Then, on to Bergen, another fine city. In a special summit with Chile, Norway and the USA, we created the Bergen Declaration for Next Generation Fisheries. A century from now, some historian will discover this document and trace the relative abundance of seafood to this international agreement.

In Reunion, if in the evening you thought a leaf was rustling...no, it was probably a large cockroach.  In Norway, that leaf was always a leaf.

Norway prospered with their oil and gas reserves, but they are being depleted.  Now they are only #21 in petroleum still in the ground.  The leaders are (billions of barrels, years of production left in parentheses):
  • #1   Venezuela  .303  (363)
  • #2    Saudi Arabia .267  (70)
  • #3    Canada  .168  (126)
  • #8    Russia   .080 (21)
  • #10  United States  .033  (15)
  • #13  China  .026  (18)
  • #19  Mexico  .007 (9)
  • #21  Norway  .007  (11)
You think, maybe, some nations, like the USA and China, are doing something about helping Venezuela out of its current political crisis?  If President Maduro somehow becomes inconsequential, you can believe that the USA was involved.  Watch for the rise of Juan Guaido (to the right).

Norway is also #21 in natural gas reserves (cubic kilometers, with years of production left in parentheses):
  • #1    Russia 47,798  (77)
  • #2    Iran  33,980  (142)
  • #3    Qatar  23,871 (143)
  • #4    U.S. 13,167  (14)
  • #5    Saudi Arabia  9,430 (83)
  • #6    China  6,654 (37)
  • #21  Norway  1,557  (14)
Solar insolation is poor and winds modest in Norway.  How did they ever succeed in leaping into the future?  One example:
    • Pollution tax of 25% VAT.
    • Carbon tax of 20%.
    • Average driving distance is shorter.
    • Hydropower is 96% of all the electricity produced, and therefore the cost of electricity is among the lowest in the world.
      • While European Union average is 25.8 cents/kilowatt-hour, Norway's is 16.4.
      • However, the U.S.average is only 13 cents/kWh, with Texas at 11.
    • Has the largest offshore wind project, led by Equinor, an offshore oil company, which is also doing some work in the USA.
    • While their concerns about climate warming are up there with the most progressive countries, they really don't have much to worry about for a long time to come because it is so cold there.
    • The latitude of North Dakota is 47.55.  
    • Norway?  60.45.
    • Anchorage?  61.2.
    • Forget sunlight as a major source.
    • Biomass grows too slowly.
In other areas, Norway is only the #14 country in the Global Peace Index.  Iceland is #1, New Zealand #2 and Denmark #3.  Want to guess where the USA is?  #122!!!   Well, we do spend as much money on war than the next 11 countries, combined Russia?  #154.  China?  #100.  Worst at #163?  Afghanistan.  Gotta show this latest graphic:


Maybe this comparison is more meaningful to many, the World's safest countries, based on war and peace, personal security and natural disaster risk:
  • #1      Iceland
  • #2      UAE
  • #3      Qatar
  • #4      Singapore
  • #5      Finland
  • #6      Mongolia (yes, Mongolia)
  • #7      Norway
  • #15    Australia
  • #17    South Korea
  • #20    Germany
  • #22    Japan
  • #26    China
  • #36    Botswana
  • #41    Spain
  • #57    France
  • #70    Thailand
  • #71    USA
  • #84    Italy
  • #91    India
  • #104  Russia
  • #116  Pakistan
  • #129  South Africa
  • #122  Venezuela  (remember, it has the largest oil reserve in the world)
  • #128  Mexico
  • #134  Philippines
That list above will help decide the stops in my next global journey.  Need to be careful about the United States.  What has happened to the USA?

Okay, one more, the best quality of life:
  • #1      Finland
  • #2      Denmark
  • #3      Norway
  • #4      Belgium
  • #5      Sweden
  • #6      Switzerland
  • #10    Japan
  • #14    USA
  • #43    Russia
  • #62    Vietnam
  • #84    Iraq
  • #120  Jamaica
  • #165  Syria
#14 is not so bad.  Who would want to live in all those cold countries, anyway.
-   

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