Nordic Energy Systems: Historical Perspectives and Current Issues ed. by Arne Kaijser and Marika Hedin

Abstract

648 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Nordic Energy Systems: Historical Perspectives and Current Issues. Edited by Arne Kaijser and Marika Hedin. Canton, Mass.: Science His­ tory Publications (Watson Publishing International), 1995. Pp. xi+246; illustrations, tables, notes, index. $39.95. This volume, based on a Nordic energy systems conference held in Vargon, Sweden, in 1993, will interest Technology and Cultureread­ ers in two ways. The conference explicitly attempted to demonstrate a role for history, particularly the history of technology, in public policy analysis. Additionally, for those of us interested in energy his­ tory, there is a refreshing focus on an important subject that has become dormant in the oil-rich energy economy of the 1980s and 1990s. The editors have organized eleven articles around three themes. In the first section, on the historical roots of electrical systems, Lars Thue and Arne Kaijser discuss, respectively, the comparative history ofrelatively abundant Scandinavian electricity and the development of high-tension power grids, while Evajakobsson surveys the history of Swedish hydropower. All three pieces reflect the influence of Thomas P. Hughes (a Vargon conferee who wrote the preface to the book). This is evident, for example, in Thue’s discussion of “mo­ mentum” and “technological style,” in Kaijser’s references to “planned” and “evolving” systems, and injakobsson’s analytical use of “reverse salient.” Inexpensive electricity has been of crucial industrial importance in the region, particularly for the Nordic metallurgical and forestproducts industries. Three articles that explore the relationship be­ tween energy systems and industry constitute the second section. Ole Hyldtoft provides a narrative of the manufactured-gas industry in 19th-century Scandinavia; Timo Myllyntaus examines the industrial importance of abundant and cheap electricity in Finland, Norway, and Sweden; and former Atomic Power Group official Olle Gimstedt offers an inside story of the initial development of Swedish nuclear energy. The five concluding articles address more recent institutional is­ sues that have resulted from changes in regional and world energy economies. The authors share an interest in two contemporary ques­ tions. The first deals with the recent movement away from statedirected energy boards in electricity (e.g., Vattenfall in Sweden and Statkraft in Norway) and toward deregulation in an economy of de­ clining energy demand. Norway had already enacted, and Sweden taken initial steps toward, massive deregulation at the time these papers were prepared in 1993. The second issue relates to the envi­ ronment. Chernobyl’s enormous impact on thinking in the Nordic lands has blocked the future of the nuclear option. Similarly, there have been various “green” critiques of environmental degradation associated with hydroelectric exploitation of the “industrial rivers” of Norway and Sweden. Denmark has responded to conservation TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 649 and environmental concerns with significant progress in cogenera­ tion (combined production of heat and power) and the use ofwind energy in its electrical industry. The discussion of cogeneration by Mikael Hard and Sven-Olof Olsson stands out among the four articles dealing with the econom­ ics and politics of the deregulation process. The authors provide not only a lucid comparative history of Scandinavian and other Euro­ pean cogeneration experiments in the postwar era, but a convincing recommendation for an energy policy that rests somewhere between market deregulation and privatization, on one hand, and centralized state direction, on the other. Let us not, urge the authors, throw out the baby with the bath water as we worship at the shrine of the free market. Good policy can shape positive environmental and social objectives, a lesson that all industrialized nations, including the United States, should ponder. Gunnar Agfors’s concluding piece speculates on the prospects for a successful transnational Nordic grid for the distribution of natural gas. This volume suffers from the unevenness typically found in the published proceedings ofconferences. There is some repetitiveness, and the depth ofresearch underlying the separate contributionsvar­ ies. Despite its importance to the history of the region, there is a bit too much emphasis on hydroelectricity. Given the enormous impact of North Sea oil and gas over the last quarter-century, one would have expected more than one essay on this topic. Nevertheless, the book succeeds in accomplishing two worthwhile goals. It brings to a wider audience significant...