50% of the electricity produced in the European Union is green: Solar cells, wind turbines, hydropower, and nuclear power account now for half of the electricity produced. What about Denmark? We produce 81.5% of our electricity from green sources. Number one in Europe? Not quite. More like 9th place. Who’s in front? Sweden with 100%; France (95.7%); Finland (91.8%), Austria (91.3%), Portugal (90.2%), Slovakia (86.9%), Luxembourg (84.6%), and Spain (83.6%).
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Why are the others in front? France, Finland, and Slovakia have nuclear plants; Portugal and Spain have a wind and solar power boom; and Austria has hydropower. At the same time, development of wind and solar power in Denmark has stalled for a couple of years now.
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What about the rest of the world? Brazil (93.81%), Kenya (93.8%), New Zealand (83.19%), and Canada (80.14%) have similar percentages with the European Union states. Luckily, even the two superpowers, the U.S. and China, are getting more green (44.42% in the U.S. and 37.34% in China).
Private companies in Denmark are joining hands to strengthen crisis preparedness: Not so long ago, the government advised people to be prepared for at least three days of survival in case of epidemic, cyberattack, power outage, infrastructure sabotage, or war. To support the public effort to prepare for crisis situations, Falck has started an “emergency network” for private companies, where they share information on how to use their resources to support the population.
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One of the network members is Salling Group (Netto, Føtex and Bilka). They are preparing their stores to run without access to electricity, and are working with their suppliers on how to keep the lines open even during a crisis.
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Unfortunately, Denmark is 5-10 years behind the other Nordic states in crisis preparedness, according to a national security expert. The private emergency network is a step forward, but more must be done for us to be truly prepared.
