I’m guessing one of the main reasons we have higher power consumption is that we don’t use gas for heating or cooking.
en fyr var sur på meg siden jeg fortalte han at vi bruker mer strøm enn andre i Europa
Norway has lots of energy-intensive industry that uses electricity. This is because we have (used to have) lots of cheap electricity.
And because literally everything is electric powered in Norway
Most houses in the UK use gas for heating and hot water, and even cooking in some cases – which are probably the highest electricity costs here in Norway.
Hihihiha
This includes all electric use, divided by capita.
Norway has a lot of energy demanding industry because we have a history of cheap power.
Also we use electricity for heat, hotwater and cooking.
If you also include gas in this summary, then the picture get a lot more balanced
PS, we are 3 ppl in this house, with an annual electricity use of 12000 kWh. Bur our house is well insulated and we have a heat pump for heating and hot water
“Electric” power. And it’s including things like making aluminium.
This might look a bit misleading, so just to clarify. Power consumption per household is a lot higher in Norway as we use 0 natural gas for heating, cooking and hot water. We use mainly electricity for everything. Some 30% of heating is from “biofuel and renewables” which I assume is because heating with wood-stoves is very common in rural and sub-urban areas. (my home for instance, is mainly kept warm with wood).
When looking at total energy consumption of households it’s a lot more even in Europe, with Norway on 5th place. (Luxembourg is in a strong lead) and Southern/Mediterranean Europe using the least amount of energy.
Adjusted for climate, Norway sits perfectly in the middle of the scale when looking at total consumption.
Source: Eurostat
Question from neighbour to the east. You don’t use “bergvärme” at all for heating in individual houses? No biomass (trash) burning in cities for heat?
Difference between sweden and Norway is so huge. The above mentioned things are the only things I can think of when you say everything is electric because its the same here. Everything at my place is Electric except heating from trash burning (city) while parents house are heated with bergvärme, rest electricity.
All the comments about not using much gas compared to rest of Europe is correct, but there’s still a huge gap between Norway and Sweden, which I believe are similar in energy consumption patterns. Maybe this can be explained by Norway’s population which is about half of Sweden.
Also, I assume many southern European countries use electricity in summer for AC to keep cool, which is not needed in Norway.
Overall, interesting stats, but need some normalization and context.
Maybe stop leaving all your lights on in each room when you are not there?
Srl, I’m visiting rn from Germany and this has me so puzzled.
Well the thing is that 98% of that power comes from renewables, wind and hydropower.
Also, electric cars that don’t burn fossils.
And the most tesla cars and electric cars on the streets.
We have a very high degree of heavy industry to population due to traditionally very cheap electricity
Norway simply waste a lot of energy, for example all motorways have street lights in Norway incl rural sections, in Sweden only some urban freeway have lights.
Even some new urban freeways are in kept dark these days as can be seen in this [video ](https://youtu.be/cYQUtkK00pI) in Göteborg where the new flyover section is unlight at 0.40 seconds in.
that is just electricity
That is true! Norwegians are the most environment unfriendly nation. They waste tremendous volumes of resources, products, water, energy.
I lived in Norway long. The locals were laughing on me when it turned off an unneeded lamp. Their officers banned me on Instagram when I criticized their wasting.
Nothing fun, tbh.
This is electricity, not power, and it includes industry. Household usage in 2021 was 7282 kWh per capita.
23.000 kWh/capita use is not a problem since you produce 29.000 kWh/capita.
A problem would be using 8.000 kWh while producing 7.000 kWh, of which half is Russian gas.
My small (111km2) house from the 1960s made us use 24406KWh in 2021. It was just the two of us then, and we heat the house to 19C. Everything is electric, including the car (but we drive like 8000km/year, so like 1200KWh).
Is this an attempt to try make Norwegians feel bad because they sell gas at a high cost to EU?
Norway has 98% hydropower. Clean energy.
Weird comparison, most of industry runs on electricity due to hydro therefore it will be massively skewed towards electric.
27 comments
I’m guessing one of the main reasons we have higher power consumption is that we don’t use gas for heating or cooking.
en fyr var sur på meg siden jeg fortalte han at vi bruker mer strøm enn andre i Europa
Norway has lots of energy-intensive industry that uses electricity. This is because we have (used to have) lots of cheap electricity.
And because literally everything is electric powered in Norway
Most houses in the UK use gas for heating and hot water, and even cooking in some cases – which are probably the highest electricity costs here in Norway.
Hihihiha
This includes all electric use, divided by capita.
Norway has a lot of energy demanding industry because we have a history of cheap power.
Also we use electricity for heat, hotwater and cooking.
If you also include gas in this summary, then the picture get a lot more balanced
PS, we are 3 ppl in this house, with an annual electricity use of 12000 kWh. Bur our house is well insulated and we have a heat pump for heating and hot water
“Electric” power. And it’s including things like making aluminium.
This might look a bit misleading, so just to clarify. Power consumption per household is a lot higher in Norway as we use 0 natural gas for heating, cooking and hot water. We use mainly electricity for everything. Some 30% of heating is from “biofuel and renewables” which I assume is because heating with wood-stoves is very common in rural and sub-urban areas. (my home for instance, is mainly kept warm with wood).
When looking at total energy consumption of households it’s a lot more even in Europe, with Norway on 5th place. (Luxembourg is in a strong lead) and Southern/Mediterranean Europe using the least amount of energy.
Adjusted for climate, Norway sits perfectly in the middle of the scale when looking at total consumption.
Source: Eurostat
Question from neighbour to the east. You don’t use “bergvärme” at all for heating in individual houses? No biomass (trash) burning in cities for heat?
Difference between sweden and Norway is so huge. The above mentioned things are the only things I can think of when you say everything is electric because its the same here. Everything at my place is Electric except heating from trash burning (city) while parents house are heated with bergvärme, rest electricity.
All the comments about not using much gas compared to rest of Europe is correct, but there’s still a huge gap between Norway and Sweden, which I believe are similar in energy consumption patterns. Maybe this can be explained by Norway’s population which is about half of Sweden.
Also, I assume many southern European countries use electricity in summer for AC to keep cool, which is not needed in Norway.
Overall, interesting stats, but need some normalization and context.
Maybe stop leaving all your lights on in each room when you are not there?
Srl, I’m visiting rn from Germany and this has me so puzzled.
Well the thing is that 98% of that power comes from renewables, wind and hydropower.
Also, electric cars that don’t burn fossils.
And the most tesla cars and electric cars on the streets.
We have a very high degree of heavy industry to population due to traditionally very cheap electricity
Norway simply waste a lot of energy, for example all motorways have street lights in Norway incl rural sections, in Sweden only some urban freeway have lights.
Even some new urban freeways are in kept dark these days as can be seen in this [video ](https://youtu.be/cYQUtkK00pI) in Göteborg where the new flyover section is unlight at 0.40 seconds in.
that is just electricity
That is true! Norwegians are the most environment unfriendly nation. They waste tremendous volumes of resources, products, water, energy.
I lived in Norway long. The locals were laughing on me when it turned off an unneeded lamp. Their officers banned me on Instagram when I criticized their wasting.
Nothing fun, tbh.
This is electricity, not power, and it includes industry. Household usage in 2021 was 7282 kWh per capita.
https://www.ssb.no/en/statbank/table/08311/tableViewLayout1/
https://statisticstimes.com/demographics/country/norway-demographics.php
Dont forget about electric cars per captita
23.000 kWh/capita use is not a problem since you produce 29.000 kWh/capita.
A problem would be using 8.000 kWh while producing 7.000 kWh, of which half is Russian gas.
My small (111km2) house from the 1960s made us use 24406KWh in 2021. It was just the two of us then, and we heat the house to 19C. Everything is electric, including the car (but we drive like 8000km/year, so like 1200KWh).
Is this an attempt to try make Norwegians feel bad because they sell gas at a high cost to EU?
Norway has 98% hydropower. Clean energy.
Weird comparison, most of industry runs on electricity due to hydro therefore it will be massively skewed towards electric.
[6 ways to understand the European energy crisis](https://www.nrk.no/urix/atte-kart-for-a-forsta-hvordan-stromkrisen-rammer-europa-og-norge-1.16078825)
*Cries in Icelandic*