Nordic Energy Systems: Historical Perspectives and Current Issues

Kaijser, Arne, and Marika Hedin, eds. 1995, xi + 246pp., Illus. The energy systems in the Nordic countries—as well as in many other industrialized countries—are presently facing a new situation. In the past decades the main challenges have been of a technical and economical nature, i.e., increasing the size of plants and transmission networks in order to cope with a rapidly growing demand. Today the main challenges are of an institutional nature. Demand growth has come to a halt and the "rules of the game" in both legal and organizational terms, are being reformulated in order to increase the system's overall operating efficiency. These changes imply that issues concerning energy systems are currently attracting considerable academic and political interest. The chapters in this volume explore important aspects of both the historical background and the current changes. The authors include historians, social scientists, and utility managers from Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. T