Denmark: Energy Poverty in the Age of Absurdities

(by Johan Christian Sollid)

By Johan Christian Sollid (@JohanSollid), Chairperson and founder of Pro Nuclear Power Movement in Denmark: @atomkraft_jatak

Denmark - where burning trees is seen as climate leadership.

Since the end of the 20th centery Denmark has been reducing its consumption of coal dramatically. Instead Denmark has massively increased its use of biomass (mainly burning trees from other countries).

Denmark gets 90% of its Total Energy Supply (TES) from something that burns i.e. emits green house gasses (biomass, coal, oil and gas).

This means that only 10% of Denmarks TES comes from clean energy (wind and solar). Most people find this hard to beleive.

There is a misconception that electricity and energy are the same.

E.g. Denmark gets 50% of its electricity from wind and solar, but since electricity only accounts for 20% of Denmarks Total Energy Supply (TES), then Denmark only gets 10% of its TES from wind and solar. The 90% of stuff that is burned consist of 35% biomass, 39% oil, 11% natural gas and 6% coal. We can all agree that oil, gas and coal needs to be faced out, but what amount biomass? Is it really green, or is it actually as damaging as the fossil fuels?

In 2021 Denmark imported 56% of its biomass from countries like Lituania, Latvia, Brazil etc. All countries that are known for being exploited because of their big, lush forets. Most of the imported biomass consists of wood pellets or chips.

Several times the Danish government has been critized for this. But that doesn't stop them from increasing the import of biomass every single year.

Biomass is the ‘elephant in the room’ that must be handled urgently

Denmark is not a climate leader. Instead, it is a wolf in sheep's clothing selling ideas about a green future without telling that it requires burning huge amounts of biomass, when the wind doesn't blow or the sun doesn't shine.

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