Greenland bans all oil exploration

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/greenland-oil-1.6105230

by elorant • 5 years ago

222 52 5 years ago

Discussed a few days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27859517

This is great news, to me it's in the same category as drilling off the north slope of Alaska. There's just no reason to allow it. I did my PhD on Greenland.

I'm not sure why their cover photo for this story is a photo of Polarstern in the sea ice north of Norway...

JumpCrisscross2• 5 years ago

it's in the same category as drilling off the north slope of Alaska

Politically it’s night and day. Alaska has proven, producing reserves. Greenland has suspected reserves. Banning future jobs and money is easier than banning ones in hand.

smnrchrds3• 5 years ago

For Alaska, it may be only about jobs. But for Greenland, it's about independence. And foregoing dreams of independence seems like a bigger sacrifice.

stanrivers2• 5 years ago

I did my PhD on Greenland?

On what, specifically? That sounds interesting... history? culture? native populations? economy? Very curious as I have literally never heard anyone say "I did my PhD on Greenland" before

Kye• 5 years ago

Given the user name and Greenland's unique geology, I'm going to guess geology.

loonster• 5 years ago

This will work for as long as the world has enough oil to meet demand. Eventually as oil becomes a more scarce resource, someone will explore for oil there.

akudha• 5 years ago

It would be a long time before we run out of oil. Given that solar is becoming super cheap, our reliance on oil will keep reducing.

What is likely to happen is change in political will to keep the ban - you know, the usual bribery and the talk of “jobs” etc. That is a bigger threat than oil shortage

smolder• 5 years ago

Isn't political will just a function of external motivators such as the profitability of extracting oil? (Which will go up as supplies dwindle?) I don't think people will just decide differently with no change in circumstances.

spodek3• 5 years ago

Increasing solar and decreasing oil are largely independent. History shows that when we find new energy sources, we keep using the old and add the new.

Solar allows us to keep doing some things that oil powers, but we would stop using oil at some point, limited by pollution killing too many of us, running out, or choice.

wegs2• 5 years ago

Perhaps. I think the key question is how quickly the cost of alternatives goes down relative to oil.

But if Greenland is the last reserve of oil left on the planet, the value of that oil will be astronomical. Holding off on drilling during cheap oil is a good investment.

fulafel• 5 years ago

We'll need to cut about 50% of fossil fuel demand globally in the next 30 years (see eg https://www.iea.org/reports/net-zero-by-2050 ). It will probably happen by tax and emissions trading mechanisms (and elimintating subsisidies ) sufficiently to reduce demand to this level.

Robotbeat4• 5 years ago

I don’t agree. We already have alternatives to oil, they’re just more expensive in many cases.

In the 00s, we pursued biofuels (ethanol, biodiesel, bioplastics, etc… which has problems but does still replace some uses of oil) and on-shore wind aggressively.

In the 2010s, we developed battery electric vehicles, grid storage, solar, and off-shore wind.

I suspect this decade we’ll see hydrogen steel and ammonia production, battery electric flight, and chemical carbon capture. Another decade of this and expensive methods of oil extraction just aren’t very feasible, so if the price spikes, people will just switch to alternatives faster or even start synthesizing carbon neutral hydrocarbons (ie via electrolyzed hydrogen, direct air CO2 capture, and Fischer-Tropsch).

ipaddr• 5 years ago

What replaces plastic currently?

Goety2• 5 years ago

This gives Russia excellent cover in overextending their territory with their arctic oil exploration and infrastructure development. Next Greenland will say "What arctic land claims?"

trainsplanes• 5 years ago

Would that even be possible since Greenland is just part of Denmark?

It'd be like Hawaii saying "Go on, Botswana. Our ocean is all yours."

Goety2• 5 years ago

If I were Russia I would be much less worried of conflict if competing oil companies were not bankrolling opposition to my land grab.

fogihujy• 5 years ago

Greenland isn't allowed to do that; their foreign relations are mostly controlled by Denmark.

thefounder3• 5 years ago

Now it's time for the whole world to ban oil exploration or at least oil/oil derived imports. The tech is here to make it happen.

spodek3• 5 years ago

Role models help tremendously. So far we've had them almost uniquely in the other direction, but the motivation to follow will become overwhelming.

Soon even Americans will choose not to run a/c 24/7 May to September and fly at a whim.

Incidentally, less tech usually reduces pollution and increases health, longevity, stability, and resilience more, though it doesn't make the headlines.

refurb3• 5 years ago

Pipe dream. You’re looking at 50-100 years to wean the world off of oil.

lumost• 5 years ago

I’d actually suspect we’re closer to the middle of the s curve on green tech than we give credit to.

Most automakers are now divesting from ic technology. GM announced a lithium mine that will at least double global lithium production. Solar is now mass producible and cheaper than most carbon plants in most locations.

It’s really cheap to set up solar production relative to coal power plants, with much less regulatory burden and the ability to make arbitrarily small utility production.

Conversely negative economic impacts of fossil fuels are now being felt via climate variability.

adrianN2• 5 years ago

We'll probably make plastic out of oil for a while after we stop burning it. But we burn so much compared to what we need for other purposes that the existing reserves will last a long time.

thefounder3• 5 years ago

They said the same about electric cars and here we are.

timonoko• 5 years ago

Did anybody mention that imported oil is their one and only source of energy. No solar or steady winds for 8 winter months. Fishing fleet, their only source of all-year-round income, runs on oil, of course.

neverminder• 5 years ago

Yeah well, if Denmark stopped giving them cash they would unban it the next day.

underseacables• 5 years ago

Greenland gets a lot of money from Denmark, so stopping oil exploration will only have a very insignificant impact on their budget. I’m sure they figured out other ways for the country to earn money.

Greenland bans all oil exploration

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