Channelling Norwegian hydropower towards greener currents: The challenge of conflicting environmental concerns?

Nearly 100 percent of electricity used in Norway stems from hydropower, but no further large-scale production is politically viable. There is however increased interest in hydropower as both a supplement to the national energy supply and as provider of balance within the European energy system. Interest focuses on: (1) increased pumping and storage; (2) upgrading of existing hydropower installations; and (3) small-scale hydro production. Such measures are also considered as climate-change mitigation. As a fourth developmental path there are also alternative processes aiming at reinforcing environmental concerns in existing hydropower, not least by revising granted licenses. These processes coincide with a reinforced focus on biodiversity. This dual environmental challenge is also enhanced by Norway’s follow-up of the EU Directive on renewable energy (RES) and the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). In this context, we here assess current political and regulatory practice in Norway, focusing on the status of environmental concerns, and the challenges Norwegian hydropower policy faces by the implementation of the EU Directives. The policy challenge is manifest as ‘trade-offs’ among hydropower priorities at both the strategic and project-specific levels; and is further enhanced by lack of clarity as to the ultimate impact of the relevant EU Directives.publishedVersio

The true, the good and the cool : The Södra teatern and the dialogical formation of the discourse of cultural diversity

The thesis analyses the continuously changing discourse of cultural diversity. The focus of this study is the ways in which this discourse is shaped within contemporary Swedish cultural politics in general, and how it unfolds and further changes through the specific activities performed by a cultural institution in Stockholm – Södra teatern. Where as the cultural diversity inspired cultural politics seems to be caught in the tension between defending the autonomous position of culture in society and arguing for the supposed positive integrative consequences of such a perspective the Södra teatern mirrors a similar complexity in their ways of performing cultural diversity. This complexity is expressed through the three aspects of cultural diversity the thesis analyses – the real, the good and the cool cultural diversity. Each of the three aspects expresses a search for authenticity as well as a resistance towards the very same notion; a belief in the enlightenment of knowledge at the same time as the content of the very same knowledge is questioned; and finally that ethnic differences some times is enforced through utterances that stresses tradition where as the supposed hybrid forms in other situations is celebrated. The three aspects of cultural diversity analysed here all express how cultural diversity works as a hyper complex concept within cultural policy where no single possible meaning erases other potential meanings. On the contrary: different and even contradictory meanings of the concept exist side by side. Thus the thesis argues that the discourse of cultural diversity expresses a hyper complex problem.Avhandlingen analyserer hvordan mangfoldsdiskursen formes på det kulturpolitiske området ved å studere hvordan denne formes i så vel Södra teaterns virksomhet som i den statlige kulturpolitikken. Mens den statlige mangfoldsorienterte kulturpolitikken preges av en spenning mellom på den ene siden å forsvare kulturens autonome stilling og på en andre siden å forsvare det man kan kalle for integrasjonspolitiske hensyn, så uttrykker Södra teaterns arbeid med kulturelt mangfold en lignende kompleksitet. Denne kompleksiteten uttrykks gjennom de tre ulike aspekter av den mangfoldsdiskursen avhandlingen analyserer – det ekte, det gode og det coole mangfoldet. De tre aspektene uttrykker hver for seg både en søken etter autentisitet og en motstand mot autentisitet; en opplysningstro så vel som en selvrefleksivitet i forhold til hva det opplyses om; og til slutt at etnisitetsforskjeller i visse situasjoner forsterkes gjennom ytringer som vektlegger tradisjon, mens andre ytringer snarere hyller det som oppfattes som hybride uttrykk. Disse tre delanalysene visere hvordan kulturelt mangfold fungerer som et hyperkomplekst begrep innenfor kulturpolitikken da tilsynelatende ulike og motsigelsesfulle tolkninger kan eksistere side ved side. Således argumenterer avhandlingen for at mangfoldsdiskursen uttrykker et hyperkomplekst problem

Småkraft uten nett? Kartlegging av aktører relevante for integrering av småkraft i distribusjonsnettet og utfordringer for nettselskap som følge av småkraftutbygging

I Norge kommer mer enn 90 % av distribuert produksjon fra småskala vannkraft. For distribusjonsnettselskap skaper integrering av slik produksjon en rekke utfordringer som krever navigering i et landskap bestående av mange aktører knyttet til både nett- og produksjonsutvikling; nettselskaper, myndigheter på ulike beslutningsnivå og private aktører (for eksempel grunneiere og rettighetshavere). Formålet med denne rapporten er å kartlegge aktørene, deres ansvarsområder, prosesser og samspill, i lys av samfunnsmessige utfordringer knyttet til integrering av småskala vannkraft på distribusjonsnettet. Utfordringene vil bli forstått ut i fra nettselskapenes planleggingsbehov.Småkraft uten nett? Kartlegging av aktører relevante for integrering av småkraft i distribusjonsnettet og utfordringer for nettselskap som følge av småkraftutbyggingpublishedVersio

Management of cluster headache and other trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias in pregnancy and breastfeeding

Many clinicians lack experience in managing trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias (TACs) in pregnancy and lactation. In addition to cluster headache, TACs include hemicrania continua, paroxysmal hemicrania, and short-lasting unilateral neuralgiform headache with conjunctival injection and tearing/autonomic symptoms (SUNCT/SUNA). Treating these rare, severe headache conditions often requires off-label drugs that have uncertain teratogenic potential. In the last few years, several new treatment options and safety documentation have emerged, but clinical guidelines are lacking. This narrative review aimed to provide an updated clinical guide and good clinical practice recommendations for the management of these debilitating headache disorders in pregnancy and lactation

The role of (de-)essentialisation within siting conflicts: An interdisciplinary approach

Large-scale renewable energy and associated technologies (RET), such as high voltage power lines (HVPL), often meet opposition from the local communities living nearby. Research has suggested that one of the main aspects that might contribute to this is the fact that RET are represented as industrial and urban, and thus, as having a different essence from rural landscapes, where they are usually deployed and which are represented as natural and unspoilt. However, this ‘hypothesis’ of landscape essentialisation shaping people’s responses to RET has not been explicitly examined. By drawing upon research from Social Psychology and Human Geography on essentialisation, we will examine if and how landscape (de-)essentialisation plays a role in people’s responses to RET. Namely, by examining it as a rhetorical construction that can be strategically used to negotiate and legitimize given relations with place and associated responses to RET. Focus groups were conducted in the UK and Norway with members of local communities to be affected by the construction of HVPLs that will connect to new low carbon energy technologies. Analyses show that participants present British and Norwegian rural landscapes in general and HVPL as having two different essences, which justifies opposition to those infrastructures. However, analyses also show that essentialisation of the countryside is strategically used. Namely, participants also present the countryside in the place where they live as having more of the essence of the British or Norwegian countryside than other areas of the UK and Norway. In turn, this allows them to legitimize claims that whereas HVPL are ‘out of place’ in the countryside in general, they are more so in the place where they live. The implications of these results for the definition of acceptable locations for RET and for research on people-place relations and responses to place change, are discussed

Water allocation with use of the Building Block Methodology (BBM) in the Godavari Basin, India

Access to sufficient quantities of water of acceptable quality is a basic need for human beings and a pre-requisite to sustain and develop human welfare. In cases of limited availability, the allocation of water between different sectors can result in conflicts of interests. In this study, a modified version of the Building Block Methodology (BBM) was demonstrated for allocation of waters between different sectors. The methodology is a workshop-based tool for assessing water allocation between competing sectors that requires extensive stakeholder involvement. The tool was demonstrated for allocation of water in the Sri Ram Sagar water reservoir in the Godavari Basin, Andhra Pradesh, India. In this multipurpose reservoir, water is used for irrigation, drinking water supply and hydropower production. Possible water allocation regimes were developed under present hydrological conditions (normal and dry years) and under future climate change, characterized by more rain in the rainy season, more frequent droughts in the dry season and accelerated siltation of the reservoir, thus reducing the storage capacity. The feedback from the stakeholders (mainly water managers representing the various sectors) showed that the modified version of the BBM was a practical and useful tool in water allocation, which means that it may be a viable tool for application also elsewhere