NordenBladet —While building systems are nothing new, Norwegian company EON Elements has gone out of their way to bring together a unique way of creating an eco-friendly building place, a system that can be reused and is energy efficient beyond anything in the market with the increasing relevance of a circular economy in mind.
The company’s impressive numbers speak for themselves, as there are 25% lower carbon emissions while building, 12% smaller carbon footprint from house operation and 45% less energy used for heating.
“We aren’t reinventing the wheel with our building system. We have only optimized traditional techniques, taken them to the next level (about time) and ensured that the final product is built to last. Because we have sustainability and social mindset we use traditional materials– wood, insulation, steam and wind barriers–that are sourced in an environmentally friendly way. In combination with our new method, it also makes eco-friendly buildings more economically accessible,” says Kjetil Sivertsen, CEO of EON and he continues,
“The EON building system is energy efficient, insulates against external noise pollution and can optionally be delivered with greater fire-resistant properties. They are light to work with, something that, in many cases, eliminates the need for heavy machinery and best of all they can be customized.”
The company’s first house was built in 2019 and they will be showcasing their latest products at the “Bygg Reis Deg” trade fair in Lillestrøm this week.
NordenBladet — On 19 October, Administrator of the US Agency for International Development Samantha Power and Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Skinnari announced their dedication to robust collaboration on efforts to advance economic productivity, gender equality and human rights in developing countries through inclusive digitalisation.At the end of a meeting today in Washington DC, Administrator Samantha Power and Minister Ville Skinnari signed a Statement of Intent to work together to provide policy advice and implementation support to governments, civil society, and the private sector in interested partner countries.The objective of this cooperation is to accelerate inclusive digital transformation in line with the Sustainable Development Goals, whereby everyone can take advantage of all the benefits and opportunities of an open, secure, and inclusive digital ecosystem. “We have to put much more effort into making new technologies available to developing countries so that people and businesses can interact, learn and operate more openly and effectively. At the same time, we have to ensure that technology is a means of empowerment and does not affect people’s rights negatively. Finland is happy to put its experience and expertise to global use in partnership with our American colleagues”, Minister Skinnari says.One of the essential instruments is financing for sustainable business projects. Finnish development financier, Finnfund, has already been making investments for some time in digital infrastructure and solutions in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Finnfund investments improve affordable access to data and digital services in rural areas as well.“Personally, I am very excited about this new level of partnership we are entering into with USAID, and I commend Administrator Power for her commitment to digital empowerment of especially women in developing countries”, says Skinnari.Statement of Intent (pdf, 115, 47 Kt)
At today’s sitting, the Riigikogu passed the Resolution that appoints member of the Legal Affairs Committee Urve Tiidus as a member of the Joint Parliamentary Scrutiny Group monitoring the activities of the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol).
By its earlier Resolution, the Riigikogu had appointed Uno Kaskpeit and Kalle Laanet as members of the scrutiny group. In connection with the suspension of the mandate of Member of the Riigikogu Kalle Laanet, the Legal Affairs Committee made a proposal to appoint Member of the Riigikogu Urve Tiidus as a member of the scrutiny group to replace Kalle Laanet.
Based on the relevant Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council, the scrutiny of Europol’s activities is carried out by the European Parliament together with national parliaments. This constitutes a specialised Joint Parliamentary Scrutiny Group (JPSG) established together by the EU national parliaments and the competent committee of the European Parliament. The main task of the scrutiny group is to politically monitor Europol’s activities in fulfilling its mission, including as regards the impact of those activities on the fundamental rights and freedoms of natural persons.
69 members of the Riigikogu voted for the Resolution of the Riigikogu “Appointment of a Member to the Joint Parliamentary Scrutiny Group Monitoring the Activities of the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation” (405 OE), submitted by the Legal Affairs committee. One member was against and there were two abstentions.
A Bill passed the second reading
The Veterinary Bill (384 SE), initiated by the Government, has been drafted due to the need to implement a directly applicable regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on transmissible animal diseases. The current national legislation concerning animal health will be consolidated into a single Veterinary Act. The aim is to consolidate, harmonise and update the sectoral law, to implement the EU Animal Health Law and other directly applicable EU Regulations in the veterinary sector, and to formulate the provisions, implementing procedures and provisions delegating authority that remain within the competence of EU Member States and that are necessary to set out the requirements more precisely.
The new Act will help ensure better legal clarity for operators and consistency of Estonian legislation with EU legislation.
The Riigikogu did not pass an Act again without amendments
The Act on Amendments to the Collective Agreements Act and Other Acts (383 UA), which the President of the Republic had refused to proclaim, intended to bring the regulation of extending a term or condition of a collective agreement into compliance with the freedom of enterprise which is protected by the Constitution, at the same time ensuring a capacity for social partnership and collective involvement. The regulation of extension concerns collective agreements that are entered into between employers and federations or confederations of trade unions.
Under the Act, in Estonia, a federation of trade unions or a trade union in the same area of activity whose members constitute 15 per cent of the employees in the area of activity or which has at least 500 members as one party and the employers who provide employment to at least 40 per cent of the employees in the relevant area of activity as the other party may agree on the extension of a term or condition of a collective agreement.
The compensations to officials who are unlawfully released from service also increase. More specifically, this concerns an official who is pregnant, who has the right to pregnancy and maternity leave, is raising a child under seven years of age or who has been elected a representative of officials and who is released from service unlawfully. Until now, the amount of the compensation has been six months’ average remuneration, but according to an amendment, the employer will pay compensation to the extent of the 12 months’ average remuneration of the employee to the employee.
The third major amendment concerns trustees and, once the Act enters into force, if there are two or more trustees, the employer will have to enable all trustees to perform the duties of trustee during the working time to the extent of the time prescribed for at least two trustees.
With the amendments, among other things, the duration of the payment of the unemployment insurance benefit and the unemployment allowance will be temporarily extended by 60 calendar days in the case when the registered unemployment rate rises above 8.5 per cent in Estonia.
The Riigikogu had passed the Act on 13 September. The President of the Republic had decided to not to proclaim the Act on account of breach of the rules of procedure. According to the President, it had been incorrect to omit the deadline for entry into force from the text of the Bill after the second reading, because that was not a technical amendment, but changed the content of the text.
One member of the Riigikogu voted in favour of passing the Act without amendments and 73 voted against. Thus, the Act without amendments was not passed, and proceedings on it will be continued according to law. The Social Affairs Committee is the lead committee.
NordenBladet — Finland and Sweden have signed an agreement on police cooperation in the border area in Tornionlaakso. Its purpose is to step up police cooperation between the two countries. Minister of the Interior Maria Ohisalo and Swedish Minister for Home Affairs Mikael Damberg signed the agreement in Tornio on Tuesday 19 October.“Finland and Sweden have a long tradition of police cooperation. Now the aim is to further improve cooperation between the authorities and provide better access to urgent assistance in areas where cross-border interaction and cooperation are very close anyway,” says Minister of the Interior Ohisalo.The agreement is applied in Finland in the territories of the municipalities of Enontekiö, Kolari, Muonio, Pello, Tornio and Ylitornio. In Sweden, the agreement is applied in the territories of the municipalities of Haparanda, Kiruna, Pajala and Övertorneå.The agreement covers urgent situations related to prevention of serious crimeThe agreement is applied only in urgent situations and it contains mainly two types of cooperation: measures carried out on request and without a request. A request can be made to the neighbouring country if urgent assistance is needed to prevent a serious criminal offence involving danger to the life, health or physical integrity of an individual. Such serious offences include rape, aggravated assault and homicide. However, the parties may also deny the request.Assistance may also be provided to the neighbouring country without a separate request. In other words, police officers may cross the national border and take provisional measures in the border area to combat serious offences such as those mentioned above. This applies only if there is a risk that the danger will materialise before the host country’s police arrive.Police officers operating in the territory of another country under the agreement must act in compliance with the host country’s legislation and within the limits of their powers under national legislation. The agreement also lays down provisions on criminal and civil liability and the liability for costs.Nordic police cooperation at both strategic and operational levelThe Nordic police authorities have been engaged in practical crime prevention cooperation for decades. Cooperation is based on international agreements, EU law and the national legislation of each country, and it is carried out at both strategic and operational level. Cooperation between the Nordic police authorities is effective and regular.The border area between Finland and Sweden is an exceptional border area between the states, as the urban structure of the area does not respect national borders (the Tornio-Haparanda area) and cross-border interaction and cooperation in different areas of life is very close in general.The agreement now signed is a legally binding treaty. After the signing of the agreement, a government proposal will be prepared asking Parliament to adopt the agreement and containing a bill on bringing into force the provisions of a legislative nature in the agreement. In addition, the relevant contents of the national legislation must be brought into harmony with the agreement.
NordenBladet — Defence ministers of Northern Group countries will hold a ministerial meeting on 20 October in Brussels. This fall the rotating Chair of the Northern Group is Finland. The meeting will be chaired by Minister of Defence of Finland, Mr Antti Kaikkonen.The defence ministers of Northern Group countries will discuss regional security in Northern Europe, including the Arctic region. The ministers will also share their views on common interests, such as emerging and disruptive technologies, Green Defence and military mobility.“Exchanging views on the security situation in Northern Europe is a shared interest for the Northern Group countries. There are also many future developments that challenge us, as well as many opportunities like Green Defence. Therefore, it is good to have an ongoing defence policy dialogue among this group”, says Minister of Defence Antti Kaikkonen.Northern Group is a defence cooperation format, which includes twelve countries around the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. The Northern Group consists of the Nordic countries and the Baltic countries, Germany, Netherlands, Poland and the United Kingdom.
NordenBladet — Policy Guidance on AI for Children, developed by the United Nations Children’s Fund UNICEF in partnership with Finland, was piloted by companies and public sector operators around the world during 2021. The second version of the guidance will be drafted on the basis of the results of the piloting and published in November 2021. Photo: Sakari PiippoUNICEF and Finland have been collaborating to create internationally applicable policy guidance for the use and development of artificial intelligence (AI) for children. The policy guidance has been piloted in different parts of the world, including in Finland, where the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa (HUS) and a Finnish start-up company, Someturva, have participated in the testing.
NordenBladet — Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintilä will visit Estonia with a Team Finland business delegation. The aim of the visit is to discuss the recovery of tourism and the opportunities of Finnish companies in Estonia.The Minister of Economic Affairs will visit Estonia on 20 October 2021 together with representatives of business organisations. The meeting will focus, among other things, on the opportunities offered by recovery funding and major Estonian infrastructure projects for Finnish companies. The agenda also includes discussions on the recovery of tourism between Finland and Estonia as the coronavirus pandemic recedes.Estonia is an important and close partner for Finland. It is important to intensify cooperation further in order to stimulate tourism and grasp the opportunities offered by the digital and green transition,” Lintilä says.During the visit, Lintilä will meet Estonia’s Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure Taavi Aas and Minister of Public Administration Jaak Aab, among others. Together with the business delegation, the Minister will attend discussions on tourism, projects to reform the Eastern Virumaa region and the possibilities of EU funding for companies.The organisations participating in the Team Finland delegation are Confederation of Finnish industries, Service Sector Employers Palta, Tapahtumateollisuus, Finnish Shipowners Association and City of Helsinki.
NordenBladet — The Ministry of Transport and Communications requests comments on a draft government proposal to amend the Postal Act and on a draft government decree on temporary support for the delivery of newspapers. The deadline for comments is 28 November 2021.The draft government proposal would replace the current five-day collection and delivery system included in the universal postal service by a three-day system.In addition, the draft proposal would introduce a temporary government grant for newspaper delivery alongside the three-day collection and delivery system. The government grant would be available to areas lacking commercial early-morning delivery of newspapers and a fully comprehensive five-day delivery system. The framework conditions for the government grant would be added to the Postal Act.According to the draft proposal, universal service providers would be obligated to notify the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency of their collection and delivery days at least six months before they start collection and delivery. The current procurement procedure for universal service providers would be removed from the Postal Act.In addition, the draft proposal would define the public administrative tasks under the Constitution that are currently entrusted on Posti Ltd and amend the related rules based on a decision by the Deputy Parliamentary Ombudsman.The proposals are based on the final report of the Working Group of State Secretaries.The Postal Act prescribes that a permanent universal postal service must be provided under equal terms throughout the country. At present, universal postal service items must be collected and delivered five days a week.The aim is to secure five-day newspaper deliveryThe Government proposes to enact a government decree on support for the delivery of newspapers. The decree would remain in force until 31 December 2027. The support would be available for early-morning delivery of newspapers on the days Posti Ltd is not obliged to provide universal postal service under the Postal Act.The objective of the draft decree is to enable five-day delivery of newspapers in areas currently lacking five-day delivery. This would ensure access to socially significant communications, support the diversity of news services and promote multifaceted quality communications.The grant recipients would be selected through competitive tendering. In exchange for the government grant, the recipients would commit themselves to five-day delivery during the support period for the price specified in the competitive tendering.The government decree on support for the delivery of newspapers is scheduled to enter into force as soon as possible after the proposed amendments to the Postal Act enter into force.What nextThe request for comments has been published at www.lausuntopalvelu.fi. Organisations and private individuals are invited to comment online or by email to [email protected]Public officials at the Ministry of Transport and Communications will continue preparing the act and the government decree following the consultation round.The government proposal for an act amending the Postal Act is scheduled to be submitted to Parliament at the end of 2021 or in early 2022 at the latest.The provisions on government grants for newspaper delivery should enter in force in early 2022 to allow the introduction of the subsidised delivery of newspapers as planned by the beginning of 2023 at the latest.
NordenBladet — Minister of Employment Tuula Haatainen and Under-Secretary of State Elina Pylkkänen will visit Stockholm on 18 October 2021. The programme includes a meeting with Sweden’s Minister for Employment Eva Nordmark and a visit to the Samhall company. Finland’s new state-owned company to promote employment of the most disadvantaged people with partial work ability has been modelled after Samhall.Samhall is a limited liability company wholly-owned by Sweden that offers jobs to people with partial work ability who are unable to find work in the open labour market. Finland has utilised the positive experiences gained from Samhall in preparing its new special assignment company.“Sweden’s Samhall company is a well-functioning concept that I and the Government believe in,” Haatainen says.“The new state-owned company is above all a tool for employing people with partial work ability, who are in the most difficult position and who until now have been overlooked and invisible,” she adds.The Government will submit to Parliament a proposal on a new special assignment company on 21 October 2021. The company would start operations during 2022.In addition to the employment of people with partial work ability, Haatainen will discuss immigrants’ access to the labour market, among other topics. The visit also includes a visit to the Swedish National Mediation Office (Medlingsinstitutet).
At today’s sitting, the Riigikogu deliberated “How to get the price of electricity down?” as a matter of significant national importance, at the initiative of the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Faction.
Presentations were made by Professor of Energy at TalTech Alar Konist, Doctor of Technical Sciences and Chairman of the Committee on Energy of the Estonian Academy of Sciences Arvi Hamburg, and Chairman and member of the faction of the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Martin Helme.
Alar Konist began from the energy consumption around the world. He said that nearly 80 percent of the consumed energy is based on fossil fuels, which include coal, gas, and oil. And although the percentage of renewable energy has been growing consistently, this has not met the expectations by any means. Konist added that coal-fired power plants would soon be closed for good, and not because we are running out of coal but because their life cycle and working resources have exhausted themselves. So far, we have used gas as an alternative to coal, which has indeed significantly increased the usage of gas compared to coal. Since 2014, investments into oil production have fallen by nearly one half, which means that the sector can also expect a number of businesses to close down.
Konist detailed the price composition of electricity as the price of power generation and electricity itself, supplemented with network charge, VAT, renewable energy charge and excise duty, as well as pollution costs, and other variable expenses. He emphasised the major impact of fuel expenses in shaping the price of electricity. Konist admitted that the price of electricity could be regulated by saving on fuels expenses; however, we are currently lacking the instruments to keep the price in check on the global market. “All the prices have soared, and this is causing the rise in the price of electricity that we are seeing today. The price of electricity has been unleashed and we should not expect positive and quick solutions.”
Konist feels that the price of energy might not have reached its ceiling yet because the production capacity and ability are constantly decreasing. He sees a need for investments to maintain the system and keep it operational. “If we fail to invest, we are first of all risking with the system shutting down, and secondly, of course, with prices becoming even more volatile,” said Konist, adding that this was one of the biggest future challenges.
Konist also mentioned that the bulk of the gas we consume comes from Russia, and if we were to start using more liquefied natural gas, this could be imported from the US, for example. He sees it very risky that we treat gas as our transitional fuel and are using it in increased quantities, because this forces us into dependency from other countries outside the European Union.
In addition to contributing towards renewable energy, we also need to invest into production capabilities that we can manage according to our needs, because wind and sun farms cannot always deliver or keep the system robust. Konist referred to the Nordic countries which use nuclear, hydro, and thermal power stations, the latter working largely on fossil fuels. “In order to maintain the quality of the network, we need all the energy production methods,” he said. Considering the current increasing CO2 quota charges, the feasibility of applying hydrogen technology also increases with every passing day, which would allow us to achieve climate neutrality with oil shale as well, and would keep all the production methods in our toolbox for decisions in the future.
Konist concluded with a proposal to differentiate the network fees on the basis of the method of production. He admitted that meeting our climate ambitions was resource-heavy and costly, and our future would be beleaguered by price fluctuations unless we contribute towards capabilities that we can manage.
Arvi Hamburg started with the reminder that despite our one hundred years of experience in using oil shale for power generation, we have become an electricity importer today.
Hamburg does not believe that the prices of electricity and gas would ever drop to the earlier levels; instead, these would remain 2–2.5 times higher than last year. “All the talk about the cold winter passing and wind starting to blow again, the sun starting to shine and the weather getting nice is well enough, but not what we can expect in reality,” he said.
Hamburg also gave examples of price increase impacting the consumer. He described household consumers as the most disadvantaged, with electric or gas heated private homes being hit particularly hard. The statistics say that one in ten private homes are heated with gas, and one in fifteen with electricity. For example, an electric heated private home uses an average of 1500 KWh monthly. While in September last year, the owner paid EUR 174 a month, this year they must pay EUR 322, which is a 1.85 times increase. He also gave the example of 2–3 room flats with central heating, where the end consumer price was EUR 35.5 in September last year, and EUR 63 in September this year. Hamburg added that the prices are sure to increase even further.
In energy, the key is balance. He described a triangle with supply security as one side, meaning that energy must be available at any time and in any place in the required amount. The second side is its affordability, and the third is environmental sustainability. “If we compromise the balance of this triangle, we have no grounds to blame the market because it is our political decisions that have caused the market imbalance. We have put a bit too much effort into one side of the triangle, while on another side we are facing the fact that the availability is becoming increasingly unreliable,” he said.
Hamburg also pointed out that there is no common European energy market with a common price; instead, different regions have different prices, and there is also a price difference between the Baltic states, not to mention the Nordic countries, or the continental Europe, or Central Europe.
He also touched on renewable energy charge as well as offshore and onshore wind farms; the capacity of the installed farms is 330 MW, which satisfies 25% of our energy need, so that 75% of our energy must come from somewhere else.
Thinking about the future, a cleaner climate requires more money. Hamburg suggested considering very carefully whether we are willing to pay more and whether we are willing to give up our comforts. He also sees a possible future option in circular economy in the oil shale industry, beginning with the use of ash, crushed stone, and ending with the chemical industry. He did not see closing businesses or top-down orders having much climate impact; it is technology that would take us forward. In his opinion, the future lies in combined power generation, i.e. energy mix. He also talked about the four Ds in electric energy – decarbonisation, decentralisation, desynchronisation, and digitalisation.
He concluded his presentation with a number of suggestions. The government should stand by the consumer and abandon the renewable energy charge. This would be covered from the price of the CO2 quota, which has increased. Secondly, he suggested reducing the VAT. For example, from 20% to 9%, which would reduce the end bill for the consumer by 11%. The cost of this alleviation would be covered from the same VAT, which we actually receive more thanks to the higher price of electricity. Hamburg also suggested reviewing the decision to close down oil shale power generation.
Hamburg emphasised the importance of research in the energy economy, the differentiation of network fees according to the energy production structure, developing compensation mechanisms, and extending the emissions trade system. He also touched on the life cycle of wind turbines and solar panels, and the European solidarity which should be better regulated to support any countries in crisis.
Martin Helme started with an admonition to base everything on discussions with the voters concerning the meaning of the climate transition or climate policy, and its implications on their standards of living. He said that the global climate has been changing since the beginning of time. According to Helme, the climate has been considerably warmer before the birth of humankind and considerably colder before the birth of humankind than it is now, and this has had nothing to do with burning oil shale in Narva. He added that the global climate is primarily affected by the sun, the distance and the angle between the Earth and the sun, the level of activity of the sun, and the geological processes inside the Earth as a consequence of this activity. This is why Helme considers it easier to adapt to the climate change rather than fight it.
Helme does not see the European CO2 policy as having any effect on the climate; however, it does have clear economic and socio-economic effects. He views carbon trading as damaging and something that needs to stop. Estonia must abandon it.
Helme sees the transition to wind and sun energy leading to colossal investments into the network, and yet the price of electricity would remain two to three times higher than today. “Renewable energy is hugely expensive and the transition to it demands massive investments and the consequent adaptation of networks demands massive investments,” Helme said. The power stations in Narva cover the needs of Estonia and have a balance volume of around EUR 2 billion.
Helme suggests discontinuing the current CO2 trade to ensure lower electricity prices in short as well as long term. Secondly, he thinks that we must stop paying the renewable energy charge as useless. “We are taking 100 million from our common pocket and giving these to around 50 or 100 businesses who have been very closely linked to drafting the legislation,” Helme said. “This has no benefits for the climate and all it does is drive up the price of electricity.”
Transmission fee could also be lowered because instead of being a cost-based price this is an investment into renewable energy networks. “If we reduce the need for these investments, the electricity transmission fees would also drop immediately,” Helme said.
Helme commended the decision of the government to keep the excise duties on electricity and gas low. He also sees the sense in reducing the energy VAT to 9%. He believes that the price of electricity would immediately reach a reasonable level as soon as we take the above administrative and political steps.
Helme concluded with a suggestion to have only an open internal market in Estonia. “For anything abroad, we buy and sell electricity through a state-owned export/import agency which holds the monopoly and which either buys up the market surplus in Estonia and sells this abroad, or buys from abroad and sells on the Estonian market at a fixed price, as the government decides,” Helme described his proposal. “In this case, electricity in Estonia would cost as much as when produced from oil shale, which would mean a considerable drop in price.”
During the debate, Jürgen Ligi (Reform Party), Erki Savisaar (Centre Party), Jevgeni Ossinovski (Social Democratic Party), Henn Põlluaas (Estonian Conservative People’s Party), and Sven Sester (Isamaa) took the floor on behalf of their factions. At the end of the debate, Kalle Grünthal (Estonian Conservative People’s Party) also made a speech.
Photo: Sakari Piippo