Project background
Norway's hydropower is attracting a lot of international attention these days. No other country in Europe has developed renewable energy resources better than Norway. While Norway has been constantly increasing its hydropower resources since the beginning of the electrification era at the end of the 19th century, other countries are now trying to convert their existing capacities in the sector of nuclear and fossil energies to 100% renewable energies.
For example, Germany is pushing for its energy system to be converted to 100% renewable energies in 2050 - the so-called "Energy Target 2050". Based on great enthusiasm in the 1990s, especially in the wind and solar energy market, the German expansion of renewables came to a nearly standstill due to resistance of the population today. Thus, the ‘Energy Target 2050’ is currently danger.
The example of Germany shows that the mood of the population with regard to the expansion of power plants has an important impact on the politically and economically accelerated construction progress.
How was the mood of the Norwegian population during the hydropower expansion boom in the 20th century?
Overingeniør Ommund Hauge, longtime head of the electronics department in the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE), summarized the mood in society during his 33 years with the NVE in 1983:
Ommund Hauge 1969 |
‹Jeg trøster meg med at i min 33 år lange tjenestetid i NVE har jeg vært med på å bygge ut storparten av Norges vannkraftenergi. Det har vært en interessant og begivenhetsrik tid, særlig de første tiår – etter krigen hvor en gikk inn for oppgavene med ungdommelig entusiasme. I dag er så mye av den pionerånden borte, også blant ungdommen, og det skylded nok at samfunnet i dag er mer tungrodd og overfylt med motforestillinger mot alt som skal gjøres.›
Aim of the project
In this project, all available publications by Ommund Hauge are collected and analyzed with regard to his statements on the mood of the population concerning the expansion of hydropower resources in Norway. With the help of the research method of qualitative content analysis, the collected texts are clustered and categorized.
Specific work description
During the project work, the student will get familiar with relevant literature and reports describing the state of the art in relation to the development of hydropower in Norway, the interdisciplinary research method of content analysis, and media theory.
After [1] relevant publications have been identified from the NVE's online archive, [2] the student creates an editable text database with articles by Ommund Hauge. Statements that reflect the mood of the Norwegian population are [3] collected and analyzed. Finally, [4] the student will present a collection of different statement clusters/categories, sorted by time and taking into account frequency, intensity and contingency.