The silver statuette was a gift from the board of Norsk Hydro to director-general Sam Eyde on his 50th birthday in 1916. The lavish statuette can stand as an expression of the great value private players could earn from Norwegian natural resources. At the top, Såheim power station in Rjukan towers over five of Hydro's hydroelectric plants and factories. Produced by the goldsmith company J. Tostrup.

The insulator is an important component in power transmission. The higher the voltage in the line, the more insulator cups must be used. Construction of high-voltage power lines in Norway gained momentum after 1900. This insulator with many bowls was a gift to The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology from importer and engineer Christian Dick in 1929.

The Concession Act from 1917 is the start of a long tradition of public management of energy resources. In the same way as with hydropower, the idea was that the oil and gas resources at the bottom of the North Sea belonged to the community. The first round of licenses for oil extraction on the Norwegian continental shelf was announced in 1965. The American Phillips Petroleum Company was one of the oil companies that applied for a permit, got it and found oil.

The image is an optical illusion. Some people see the cat right away, others never. Do you see the cat?

Illustration: Unknown

In January 1906, Norsk Hydro held its first full board meeting. It took place in Paris because the company's main shareholder was the major French bank Paribas. The engraving on the back of the case shows that it was a gift to CEO Sam Eyde from the board of Hydro. It says "In memory of our first board meeting in Paris".

Georgism was a social reform movement that gained international traction in the 1890s, named after the American economist Henry George. He is known for his proposal for land rent tax, which is today an important source of income for the Norwegian state. Georgists speak of "seeing the cat." The expression is about opening our eyes to the extent to which ownership of land affects our economy.

The image is an optical illusion. Some people see the cat right away, others never. Do you see the cat?

Illustration: Unknown

Over a period of ten years, from 1906 to 1917, regulation of Norwegian hydropower was hotly debated in the Storting. Business liberal politicians argued that the waterfalls should go to both Norwegian and foreign buyers. The socialists wanted a state monopoly on hydropower. In between stood the majority. They believed that the concession laws should not prohibit, but regulate investments paid for with private capital, whether it was Norwegian or foreign. Photo: Frederik Hilfling-Rasmussen

Sam Eyde was an industrial builder and engineer. He helped establish Norsk Hydro, where he was general director from 1905 to 1917. Eyde's investments in hydropower made the Norwegian authorities aware of the need to regulate the purchase and sale of waterfalls. 

Photo: AB Wilse/ The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology 

The fuses control the current by breaking it in case of overload, short circuit and, in the extreme, fire. The fuse elements have been used at Oslo machinist school around 1900.

With switches, the power can be turned on and off. This knife switch was first used at Røros Kobberverk, which from 1896 received electric light from Norway's first power station with alternating current, Kuråsfossen. There were big savings for the mining operation by using electric light, and it also improved the working conditions of the miners. After 1901, the switch was used in the wagon hall of Trondheim Sporvei.

Lillestrøm's municipal electricity works from 1912 supplied electricity to street lights, business premises and a few private homes. This was used in the plant's control and testing station. After testing the equipment, the voltage had to be removed during discharge. It created a spark and perhaps a bang between the equipment and the bullet.

Not all cities had easy access to hydroelectricity, as a river with a waterfall ran through the city. When Drammen got electricity in 1903, the power had to be obtained from Gravfoss in Geithus in Modum and transferred to a transformer at Bragernes. From there, the power could be sent out to the customers. In 1932, all households in the city had electricity

NEMKO was responsible for testing electrical equipment. This apparatus was used to test lamp holders.

Construction workers at Rånåsfoss power plant climbed a high-voltage mast during assembly. The power plant in Glomma was developed between 1918 and 1922. Up to 1,200 men worked at the plant at the same time, where a separate community with a school, infirmary, post office and telegraph grew up.

Photo: Unknown/ Norsk Teknisk Museum     

The image is an optical illusion. Some people see the cat right away, others never. Do you see the cat?

Illustration: Unknown

This hydrological instrument from the 1880s was called a "flügel" and measured speed, water quantity and currents in the watercourse. It was used by the Kanalvesenet, which was responsible for the utilization of Norwegian waterways before the "agency" became part of the newly formed NVE in 1921.

Olaf O. Rogndal's electrical plant had all the technical equipment necessary to ensure the transmission of electricity from the small power plant he had built to the farm he ran nearby.

Small power pioneer Olaf O. Rogndal had electricity installed in his house in the years after 1900. Then the family had lights, electric cooking appliances and heaters installed.  

In 1913, the book was published by Vassdragsvesenet, which was the forerunner of NVE. The aim was to encourage private individuals with their own waterfalls to set up their own small power plants. This was particularly relevant in the villages where the infrastructure for electricity had not yet been developed. The small power plants were exempt from licences.

Olaf O. Rogndal built Vest-Telemark's first power station in the 1890s with a turbine, dynamo and electrical equipment that transferred the power from the river to the farm. The current also powered the machines at Rogndal's saw and wood factory.

The call to build private power plants was supported by industry that sold electrical equipment for agricultural machinery and household lighting and heating. NEBB published the booklet Landbruk & electricity in 1914, where the cleaning machine for seeds was presented.

Photo: Severin Worm-Petersen/ The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology

With five arms, the candelabra lit up dark rooms. The glass prisms further reflected the effect of the flames from the wax candles. Loose figures of birds belonged and could replace the candles. It is made of gilded zinc and stood in a house in Meltzers gate in Oslo.

The flashlight consists of candles and matches with scratches in a metal box. The mirror on the inside of the lid reflected and amplified the light when it was lit. The lantern was produced at the end of the 19th century by the Belgian company Roche & Cie.

Nitedal's Tændstiksfabrik was founded in 1863. In the first years, the factory produced phosphorus matches, which were easily flammable and could easily be ignited against the leg of a trouser or boot. The safety matches had to be lit against a tear plate and were therefore more fireproof. This box has a tear plate. Nitedal's matches are today produced by Swedish Match.  

The matches had lighters at both ends for better utilization of the wood material. The factory was located in London where several thousand low-wage women and children worked. Working conditions were poor with health damage to teeth and bones due to working with phosphorus. It was women who stopped work in the first general strikes in Great Britain at Bryant and May in 1888 and in Norway at Nitedal in 1889.

The first scientifically constructed oil lamp was patented in 1784. It has a hollow wick that supplies air to the flame, and the oil flows from the high-placed oil container to the wick. The lamp cast minimal shadows and was therefore used for reading and called a study lamp. Another name was "argand lamp" after the lamp's inventor. The lamp lacks a glass shade.

This French lamp was invented in 1837 and has the container for oil placed under the wick. A hidden pressure mechanism pushes the oil up into the burner.

The lamp was called a round burner because of the cylindrical wick. It was submerged in kerosene in the lamp's glass flask. In the 19th century, several types of oil were in use. In the beginning, tallow oil, such as foul-smelling cod liver oil and whale oil, was most common. Later it was replaced by wood oil or oil made from coal. Kerosene was cheap and clean-burning, and kerosene soon replaced the other types of oil.

The lamp is made of iron and polished brass and has a gas arm for one flame. It was manufactured by RW Winfield & Co in Birmingham in 1878. The factory also made tubular furniture such as chairs and beds. Gas for private lighting was not a success in Norway due to its high price. The lamp was a gift from the National Museum to The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology in 1931.

This brass electric bedside lamp is from around 1915. When electric lighting became common, several rooms in the house could be lit up. It became possible to carry out several activities regardless of the time of day. Reading in bed, for example, was no longer a fire hazard. The lamp shade is not original.

In 1848, Oslo Gassverk was founded. Eleven street lights were set up from the gas plant's premises in Storgata to Stortorvet. This lantern is made of cast iron with neo-Gothic decor and is marked as number 10. Gas gave better light and was easier to maintain than the oil lanterns.

The first street lamps were oil lamps for fat oil, such as cod liver oil and whale oil. Farm owners and business owners set up lanterns that lit up streets and entrances. Municipal lanterns were also in use. The oil lamps shone dimly, could not tolerate cold well, and the need for maintenance and polishing of glass was great. In order to save on expenses, the time at which the lanterns were to be lit was strictly regulated. After 1881, new oil lamps were no longer purchased in Oslo. But they were still in use and were moved from the center to the suburbs.

The hanging gas lantern with seven burners was purchased by Oslo gassverk around 1915 from the leading manufacturer of gas lanterns William Sugg & Co in London. The lamp was a technological innovation with several composite flares in each dome to increase the amount of light, while perforated caps diffused the light. It also cast less shadow than the earlier gas lanterns.  

The lamp was acquired by Oslo Lysverker in 1923. This was the same year that the municipality decided to electrify all street lighting in the city.

Oslo's residents met at Karl Johan, where it was all about seeing and being seen. After 1892, the street lighting was a combination of tall electric arc lamps with strong light and low gas lanterns which gave a weaker but more pleasant light. The two variants are seen on the horizon towards the castle in the background.

Photo: Severin Worm-Petersen / The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology

The gas lanterns were connected by pipes that had to be buried. The pipes also had to be regularly repaired. At the intersection of Prinsens gate and Nedre Slottsgate, an entire lamp post was replaced. The picture was drawn by architect Wilhelm von Hanno in 1862.

Photo: Wilhelm von Hanno / Fredrik Birkelund / Oslo museum

In February 1891, Hammerfest became the first city in Europe with electric street lighting. The municipality decided that the profits from the town's alcohol sales should pay for this public purpose. Finnmarksposten described the event: "The brilliant lighting naturally brings great happiness to the people of the city, who in the evening go out in large numbers to enjoy and admire the magnificent light that is produced in such an unimaginable way."

Inside the peephole you can see a man preaching in front of a congregation, and a poster that says "Only the enlightened are not afraid of the shadow".

Model by Geir Christiansen

Lars Fitjar was early on showing films in the Haugesund area. He traveled around with this movie projector and a gramophone in houses of worship and other places of assembly. The projector was also used for slide presentations. The film rolls were cranked by hand. He often had to make his own electricity as many places were still without electricity. The projection light was formed with the help of gas.

Most of the films shown were foreign and were bought directly from the USA or a dealer in Oslo. There was also an early Norwegian film production. The price for a child's ticket was 10 øre in 1905, which corresponded to the price of a liter of milk. Cinema was very popular. The venues were filled, and the audience loved seeing the live images.

Norvald Bjerke showed films in Oslo and Bergen around 1910. In addition, he himself played the accordion together with the virtuoso Øivind Andersen during the performances.

Photo: Unknown/ Norsk Teknisk Museum

In 1932, the Oslo company Per Kure launched a cheap electric stove that fit into most kitchens and in families with less good finances. Electric plates were a technical innovation and saved both electricity consumption and space. The smallest model Elektra stoves had two hotplates, an oven and a warming cupboard for the plates.

The right cookware was important to make use of the hotplates on the stove. An aluminum cooking pot with a flat bottom was recommended. They conducted the heat the best. In addition, it was important that the entire plate was covered. A cooking vessel in three parts meant that potatoes, vegetables and meat or fish could be cooked simultaneously on the largest plate.

The lamp was an advertisement for Elektra stoves and cooking appliances produced by Per Kure. The drawn figure was used in many of the company's advertisements. The lamp came from Cæsar Lundberg's business in Bryn, which sold electrical equipment in the early 1930s.

Tourism grew at the end of the 19th century. The bath hotel and sanatorium on Hankø opened in the summer of 1877. There were also rental villas where guests cooked their own food. To satisfy the tastes of the foreign tourists, toasters were acquired, but these were powered by kerosene before electricity came.

Cooking appliances powered by petroleum or kerosene meant that food boiled quickly. The fact that they were also economical in use contributed to them becoming common in many kitchens in the early 20th century. The downside was that they were highly flammable.

Gas was well suited for cooking. Gas stoves were most common, but there were also small and simple gas hobs.

Elektriks Bureau was the leading electrotechnical company in Norway. It was early on in producing kitchen items in the Rex series. Henriette Schønberg Erken was a pioneer in the housewifery profession as a housekeeper teacher and cookbook author. She gave classes and demonstrated household electrical appliances, as in this 1926 advertisement.

Photo: Unknown/ Norsk Teknisk Museum

The dream of a cozy home was a central motif in advertising from the interwar period. Heat was needed for both cooking and heating. Streamlining housework was also an important selling point. The advertisement was for Norwegian-made electrical items and German and British gas stoves that were sold in Norway.

Gerd Wibord Thune was employed by the Norwegian Electricity Works Association to train Norwegian housewives in cooking using electricity. The cookbook was published in 1939. During the Second World War, the book came out in new editions with emergency recipes and advice on how the housewife could save on both electricity and food.

The radio Vef super MD39, manufactured in Latvia in 1939, was given to the museum in 1964. Originally it came from the "National Committee for the Disposal of Stray Radios". The committee distributed the radio sets that were not collected after the war. The Jews were the first to have their radios confiscated during the war. Over half were killed in German concentration camps. Perhaps this device was owned by a Norwegian Jew?

The radio tube or electron tube of the type Telefunken A M2 DRP was used as a troll's eye in the radio. This was a station meter where the electron tube lit up when the radio was correctly tuned to the desired station. The lamp flashed when the viewfinder was out of focus and the sound was jarring.

In the 1930s, the German radio factory was one of the largest suppliers of radios in Norway. The distinctive logo was designed in 1919 and is still in use. Listening to the radio became a leisure activity and a source of information and education on a par with reading books and newspapers.

Illustration: Unknown/ The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology

Stratos was a series among Telefunken's many radios. Emphasis was placed on easy operation of the radio, good sound, and "the beautiful appearance that makes it fit in any home".

Photo: Unknown/ Norsk Teknisk Museum

Jacob Schick designed the first electric shaver. It was put into commercial production in 1931. The manufacturer continued to develop the concept of dry shaving. The American razor brand still exists in 2023.

Philips launched its first electric shaver in 1939, the so-called PhiliShave. Beyond the 1940s, the machines became available to more and more people. In the advertisement, the term dry shaving was used, and the method was supposed to be gentler on the skin. The shaver was nicknamed the Cigarette.

In 1953, Philips' first battery-powered shaver arrived. It could therefore easily be taken on trips. The mirror on the battery box was also handy to check the result of the shave. Two years earlier, Philips had launched the model with a double head which was a new technology in electric shaving.

Remington Rand invested in razors from 1937. The brand was known from, among other things, typewriters, and the razors quickly gained a good position in Norway as well. In the 1950s, the company carried out extensive marketing with its own installment system and a trade-in scheme for older shavers. The slogan was: "Let shaving be a pleasure!"

The German electronics brand Braun started producing shavers in the 1950s. The company invested heavily in industrial design, among other things by working on ease of use. The logo was also designed in the 1950s.

Stratos was a series among Telefunken's many radios. Emphasis was placed on easy operation of the radio, good sound, and "the beautiful appearance that makes it fit in any home".

Photo: Unknown/ Norsk Teknisk Museum

This is the second Van de Graaff generator in all of Europe. The machine was built at Norway's Technical College (NTH), between 1933–1937, under the direction of Johan Holtsmark and with help from Odd Dahl. It could create high voltage up to half a million volts. The goal was to create enough energy to shatter atomic nuclei and create a nuclear reaction. The high-voltage facility at NTH was the start of accelerator-based nuclear physics in Norway.

An acceleration tube was connected to the dome of the generator. Through the tube, protons were sent at high speed towards a target disc of light elements. It created a core reaction. With advanced instruments, the physicists could measure what happened next. Accelerator-based nuclear physics, with its need for space and infrastructure, was the start of the huge nuclear research laboratories as we know them today.

Photo: Unknown/Museum for University and Science History

At the World Exhibition in Paris, the latest in technology was showcased, and in 1937 a Van de Graaff machine was self-written. During the demonstrations, purple sparks shot out of the dome to the great excitement of the audience. The machine on display in the Palais de la Decouverte could produce up to 5 million volts. That is ten times more than our machine, which was also completed in 1937.

Drawing: Boutterin/Bridgeman Images

Creating energy in nuclear reactors can be done in two ways, through fission or fusion. Fission splits atomic nuclei, while fusion fuses particles together. The fusion process has been researched since the Second World War, and in 2022, fusion scientists had a major breakthrough: They created a nuclear reaction that gave off more energy than they had added. This shows the possibility of a self-sustaining energy source, i.e. a kind of perpetual motion machine. But the fusion experiments are very resource-intensive. They require enormous pressure and over 150 million degrees Celsius, which is much hotter than the core of the Sun.

Photo: Damien Jemison/AP, NTB

The perpetual motion machine was built at Vulkan Jernstøberi and mechanical workshop in Oslo, probably between 1890–1930. The machine was made to order, but no one picked it up. Perhaps it was because the inventor could not afford to sign it off or that the person had lost faith in the project along the way. We know neither the customer nor the machine's construction drawing. Gifted to The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology in 1939.

Illustration: A. Simon.

Drawing: Boutterin/Bridgeman Images

The drawing shows a sketch of a perpetual motion machine. Small balls inside the wheel structure were supposed to make the wheel go around by itself.

Drawing: da Vinci/ The British Library.

Photo: Unknown/Museum for University and Science History

Book by Wilhelm Ostwald as was translated into Norwegian in 1911 and published by Aschehoug publishing house. The historian Edvard Bull called Ostwald one of the sharpest scientists of his time in his review of the book. Today, Ostwald's theory of energy is considered a curiosity of the history of ideas.

Was produced by the Belfa electrochemical factory in Bergen between 1900–1920.

During the economic crisis of the 1930s, some American engineers launched the idea of ​​a new economic system. Instead of a system based on the gold standard, where the amount of money is in proportion to the central bank's gold reserves, they proposed that the value of money should be linked to the amount of energy society had at its disposal. The main point was that the energy reserve of, for example, a sack of coal is constant, while the monetary value of the coal changes over time. Switching to an energy currency would make the economic system more predictable, they believed. Several Norwegian engineers supported the idea.

The T-Forden is one of the first mass-produced cars. It was equipped with a 4-cylinder engine that produced 20 horsepower and a top speed of around 70 km/h. In the internal combustion engine, chemical energy is converted into mechanical energy. The spark from the spark plug ignites the gasoline gas which pushes the piston inside the cylinder, which in turn pushes the car forward. The T-Forden could be powered by petrol, kerosene or ethanol.

The Panama Canal carries shipping traffic through six double locks on the way between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The canal opened to traffic in 1914. It was originally intended that the polar ship Fram was to be the opening ship, but the opening was so delayed that the schooner returned home to Norway. In 2016, the canal was extended with a parallel run that takes larger ships.

A theodolite is an instrument for reading horizontal and vertical angles and is used in land surveying. This was used during the construction of the Panama Canal. The challenging construction started in the 1800s. Over 27,000 workers are believed to have lost their lives up to the opening in 1914.

The Suez Canal connects the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. The canal opened to traffic in 1869, cutting travel time between Europe and Asia by about a month. Ships with a length of up to 275 m and a width of 70 meters can pass through the channel. They can transport up to 1 million barrels of oil or other goods of up to 200,000 tonnes.

In the winter of 1877–1878, the sailing ships "Jan Mayn", "Stadt" and "Lindesnæs" were converted into tankers at Fagerheim's shipyard in Tønsberg. The cargo spaces on the schooners were divided into watertight bulkheads and oil taps on deck. Although the steam tanker was developed at the same time, sailing tankers were built into the 20th century. Oils and petroleum held up well and could withstand long voyages, and the shipowners saved on fuel expenses.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, petrol, kerosene and other oil products were transported as bulk cargo in jugs and barrels on board ships. The ship itself was like a giant container that transported the fuel from production sites abroad to large ports such as Oslo and Bergen and further out to trading points along the coast.

The copper works at Røros had a great need for timber in the extraction of ore, in desulphurisation and for smelting and refining the copper. After the Røros Railway opened in 1877, imported coke could be used. Deforestation stopped. Elsewhere in Eastern Norway, the railway facilitated the transport of timber and opened up new areas for forestry.

Three locomotives of this type were delivered to Kongsvingerbanen in 1861. After the opening of the main line between Kristiania and Eidsvoll in 1854, there was great enthusiasm for the railway. It was unimpaired until the 1920s, when roads and road construction came into the driver's seat. The railway drastically reduced transport costs, and also changed settlement patterns with the emergence of new towns along the lines.

CREDIT HERE

In 1907, the Norwegian engineer and officer Ole Wilhelm Lund traveled to Mexico. He was to investigate the possibility of building a railway from Mexico City to the Pacific Ocean. Since the 1870s, Lund had been central to the development of Norwegian railways, including the laying out of the Bergen Railway's high mountain crossing and the construction of the Ofot Railway and the Sulitjelma Railway.

The coal burns and causes water to boil. The heat energy in the steam is transformed into a mechanical force that propels the locomotive forward. The coal is stored in a tank on the locomotive or in a separate carriage and must be shoveled into the combustion chamber. From the beginning of the 20th century, coal was gradually replaced by diesel and electricity. In 1971, the last steam locomotive was taken out of service.

In 1961, Norsk Koksverk was established in Mo i Rana and the vision of Norwegian coke was finally realised. At the plant, coal from, among other places, Svalbard was further processed into coke. The quality of the coke was debated, and in 1988 the plant was closed down.

Recordings from various wagons and alarms attached to them have been sampled and processed and, together with other sounds from the Coke Works, form the foundation of the work "Nightshift". The music is accompanied in the film by video recordings of the work made by Oddbjørn Johansen before its closure in 1988. "Nightshift" was first released in 1999 on the album The Source of Energy.

From the mines on Svalbard, coal is transported by ship to thermal power plants in Longyearbyen, and to the chemical and metallurgical industry in Norway and Europe. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was hoped that the coal deposits on Svalbard would cover the need for coal in mainland Norway. Despite the fact that coal was important in steel production at the iron works in Mo i Rana, it has always been necessary to import coal.  

Produced by NRK.

Svalbard was a male society of miners and white-collar workers. The workers were not allowed to bring their families with them. It was a good thing reserved for office workers. On 7 July 1929, the first four working women traveled to Longyearbyen. The women worked in care, supply and cleaning. Only in the 1970s were women allowed to work in the mines

In May 1949, "Jacob Kjøde" docks in Harstad. On board are the coffins of 15 miners who lost their lives when methane gas ignited coal dust in Ester III in Ny-Ålesund on 4 December. Accidents and explosive fires have claimed the lives of more than 185 workers in the Norwegian mines on Svalbard.

Down to 300 metres, the miners work in mountains with permafrost. Coal and stone lie in layers. The thickness of the coal layer determines the working height. In the Svea mine, the coal layers are up to five meters thick, while the height in the mines at Longyearbyen is less than one metre. When the coal disappears, pistons are set up. They must carry the mountain that presses down.

The work in the mines on Svalbard and in the gas works was dirty. At the end of the working day, the workers washed themselves in buckets or basins of washing water. It often happened that someone went home without washing. The work clothes could soon stand on their own due to coal and stone dust. With warm water and a shower, it gradually became easier to wash the body clean of dust and soot.

This is an x-ray of the lungs of an elderly man who worked in a coal mine. Dust can cause an inflammatory reaction in the lungs that forms scars. Gradually, breathing becomes worse, and the risk increases for other lung diseases such as cancer and tuberculosis. Many types of work such as mining, demolition work and textile production result in high exposure to dust.

When coal is heated to 1100–1200 degrees, a gas synthesis of hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide and ethylene is formed. It is called lighting gas or city gas. It was not possible to fully adapt production to consumption. The extra gas was stored in gas containers, so-called gas bells, which stood in pools of water. The largest bell at the Oslo gasworks was built in 1925 and held 60,000 gas.

The gas works in Oslo opened in 1848, and during the 1850s gas works were established in Halden, Trondheim, Bergen, Kristiansand and Moss. Pipelines that brought the gas from the gas plant to consumers were laid in the ground. Occasionally, leaks could occur. Gas meters like this were used in the laboratory at the Oslo gas plant and could measure gas emissions.

Retorts were furnaces that were filled with coal and burned at 1100 degrees for 7 to 8 hours without the supply of oxygen. Teams of five men scraped the white-hot coke out and down to cool on the floor below. When one retort was emptied, it was on to the next. Sweat poured, and canvas mittens protected against the worst of the heat. After 1920, the operation became more mechanized.

A byproduct of burning coal into gas was coke. The coke was sold from a pile at Ankerløkken. It could be up to 10 meters high. It was possible to have coke delivered home, but many also collected it themselves with a cart or sledge. The gas utility did not cover the need for coke, and imported coke could also be bought in own outlets.

The whaling industry was a man's world. The whalers had to be tough and keep calm in the face of extreme nature and dangerous work. The whale was everywhere. When the flanges cut holes in the abdomen, the entrails spilled out. Whale remains lay like a greasy film over everything. The stench settled in their clothes, in the bed and in everything they tasted.

In the Cape Verde Islands, off the coast of West Africa, the schooner stopped to fill with coal. Cheap labor also came on board. They did the heaviest work. They shoveled coal, carried crates, hauled materials and shoveled graks, the muddy remains of whale oil production. The African workers were not part of Skuta's community. You didn't mix with them.

Until the middle of the 19th century, most of the whale oil found its way into the oil lamps. The oil from fishing along the coast in the northern regions was in demand in Northern Europe and the USA. In the home, the lamps were often open bowls, while closed lamps were used in mines. The oil was filled in the container and burned through the wick at the tip. This lamp provided light in the cobalt mines at Skuterud in Modum.

D/S "Hav" was built at Akers mek. Workshop in 1931 for the shipping company A/S Polhavet in Tønsberg. The boat was powered by . Fast steamships allowed the whalers to catch swift whale species. From the 1920s, the dead whales were taken on board in floating cookers, and the conversion of whales into oil could take place at sea.

The shooter takes aim and fires a shot at the whale. The harpoon hits and penetrates the animal's body. Lina braces herself and triggers the grenade, which explodes inside the animal. Sometimes the whale is killed in seconds, other times it takes hours. The grenade harpoon was developed by Svend Foyn and was important for the industrialization of whaling in the 1860s.

In industrial whaling, the rush was great, and the most readily available oil was in blubber. Once the blubber was peeled off, the rest of the whale was dumped, and the hunt for the next whale continued. Around three million animals had to pay with their lives. Some species disappeared forever, others still balance on the edge of extinction.

Managing energy resources was not just a matter for companies or the state. Energy had to be managed in the household as well. The women were often responsible for coke, coal and wood for heating, lighting and, not least, cooking, where raw materials had to be converted into energy-giving nutrients and ensure performance in the work.

An indicator shows how the gas pressure in the steam engine varies. The variations were automatically recorded on a sheet of paper. Engineers used the diagram to check that the machine was working as well as possible and how much work capacity it had. The work to improve the efficiency of the steam engine was a starting point for the field of thermodynamics.

As a worker, you can be paid either for a piece of work or for the time you work. With factory production, it became more common for work and time to be linked together. It then became important that working hours were as efficient as possible. Time studies investigated how the work could be done faster and with less energy consumption by both the machines and the workers.

Before World War I, petroleum was primarily a light source. During the war it became an energy source with many more uses. Norwegian shipowners invested in tankers, and in 1930, when "Strix" was built, Norway had the world's third largest tanker fleet. Growth has continued. Today, 27 times more oil is transported by ship than in 1935, and roughly a quarter of all ship transport is oil freight.  

The oil tankers are not only workplaces, but also places to live. Those who sailed in Asia had the longest time out, who were often out for two to three years at a time before the Second World War. Sailing times have gradually been reduced. On board, the crew mainly works with operation and maintenance. With iron and steel ships, it is primarily about the fight against rust.

Cast in concrete, with a height of over 70 metres, the Ekofisk tank could store up to 1,000,000 barrels of oil. It was built as a storage site for oil from the Ekofisk field, but was quickly replaced by a pipeline to Teesside in England. The tank is no longer in use.

"Soon it will be over. Not next year, not in ten or twenty years, but soon. From the sea's perspective, it is soon. When the helicopter takes off, I see everything quite clearly.
When each and every drilling platform has emptied the 15-30 wells below them, when they have filled the entire reservoir with water, then they will lift the platforms away, one by one. Only the concrete giant will stand here, in the middle of everything,
but slowly surely it will sink into the sea and be lost.”

Marit Eikemo, "Everything sinks into the sea", Samtidsruinar (2009)

From the 1870s, the large oil fields around Baku were industrialized. In 1872, the Swedish Nobel family founded the oil company Branobel. It was for a time Russia's largest company and spread throughout the kingdom through oil wells, pipelines, refineries, tankers, railways and a multinational workforce. The revenues from the oil in Baku accrued mainly to European investors

In 1911, Hans Olsen and his family moved into Oslo's largest and finest private residence designed by Henrik Bull. The villa and garden were reminiscent of the Russian palace villas the family had lived in St. Petersburg and Baku, where Hans Olsen managed the Nobel family's oil company Branobel. The villa is today the residence of the American ambassador to Norway.

Over 200 refineries were in operation around Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. They spewed thick, black oil smoke. The pollution was great, the working conditions bad and the class differences huge. At the beginning of the 20th century, the political and ethnic conflicts grew. The oil workers went on strike, and Baku's oil industry became a hotbed of revolutionary activism led by, among others

In 1899, Knut and Bergljot Hamsun traveled from St.Petersburg to the oil fields in Baku. I Æventyrland describes their journey in a mixture of actual experiences, dreams and fiction. The oil is a companion on the journey – from burning kerosene lamps in front of Russian icons in St.Petersburg, as motive power for the locomotive on the Trans-Siberian railway and as a sensual, all-encompassing experience in Baku.

The light switch was installed in Villa Parafina in 1901 and was in use until around 1930. In 1896 the State had bought the property built by the paraffin importer Fredrik Sundt. The villa was used as the prime minister's residence, before in 1908 it became the residence of the foreign minister. Since 1962, "Villa Parafina" has been the State's representative residence, while the Prime Minister lives in the neighboring property.

The villa was built in 1877 for Fredrik Sundt who was one of the largest importers of kerosene. Sailing ships brought barrels of petroleum from the USA and Scottish kerosene which were sold directly to customers in Oslo or distributed further in the country. Demand, prices and profits were high. His stately villa was quickly nicknamed Villa Parafina.

On 14 July 1972, the Storting approved the establishment of a state-owned Norwegian oil company that would look after the state's business interests on the Norwegian continental shelf. The following year, the company was named Statoil. In the mid-1980s, Staoil had become the largest operator in the North Sea, and in the 1990s the company entered into an alliance with, among others, BP and became an international oil company.  

On 30 March 2011, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg presented the action rule, which indicates how much of the income from oil operations can be used. He compared the forest and oil money; "we do as in good forest management: we only cut the growth." The oil fund was established in 1990 to ensure long-term sustainability in the use of oil money.

150 million years ago, algae and plankton sank to the bottom of the sea. Thousands of layers of new deposits, clay, sand and lime pressed them together and downward in the heat. At about 2,000 meters and 200 degrees, they turned into oil and gas. Like oil and gas, they slid upward again into a barrier of dense rock until a drill bit made a hole and relieved the pressure.    

On 27 March 1980, one of the five legs of the Alexander Kielland housing platform was torn off in high seas on the Ekofisk field in the North Sea. The platform overturned. 123 perished, and 89 were saved. The accident is the biggest industrial accident in Norway. In total, at least 266 people have died at sea in Norwegian oil operations since 1967.

With the car came new, fast vehicles that required space. The predecessors had to get out of the streets and onto the pavement. At Rådhusplassen in Oslo, the port, the railway and the cars met. The idea of ​​a tunnel under Akershus fortress was first launched in 1916 and in 1990 the Fortress Tunnel opened. The tunnel carries through traffic along the sea side of Oslo underground.  

Between 1927 and 1932, all cars had to have tax stamps to show that the year's inspection and road taxes had been paid. The color of the badge changed from year to year. Fees related to use were also gradually introduced. In 1931, a petrol tax of 3 øre per liter was introduced. A liter of petrol then cost around 20 øre. The fees were to cover expenses for maintenance and construction of roads.    

The pyramid-shaped oil can of 1 liter from Norsk Vacuum Oil was popular in the post-war period. The company imported and sold lubricating oils, especially to the fishing and merchant fleet. After the war, lubricating oils for vehicles became important. Lubricating oil protects moving parts in machines and engines, reduces friction and wear, water penetration and rust.

After the Second World War, BP was one of the major distributors of oil products in Norway. With more cars on the roads also came more petrol stations. The fuel was stored in large underground tanks. The petrol pumps brought it up and over into the car's tank.

Vallø Oil Refinery was founded in 1900 and was Norway's only refinery until 1960. The refinery made products such as transformer oil for power stations, fuel for motor boats and vehicles and lubricating oils for machines. Polarskuta Fram used a number of different energy sources on its expeditions. In addition to sails, a coal-fired steam engine, kerosene and a wind turbine with batteries, in October 1910 the schooner was also allowed to fill the stores with oil.

Oil is not just oil. The chemical composition varies from oil field to oil field, and before it can be used it must be refined through refining. The refinery at Mongstad was built by Norsk Brændselolje and Norsk Hydro and was completed in 1975. With crude oil from the Middle East and the North Sea, the facility produced a number of products.

Norol was founded in 1976 as a state-owned Norwegian distribution company for petroleum products. The company took over from Norsk Brændselolje, which had been owned by, among others, BP. In 1988, the company was taken over by Statoil. Statoil then became a so-called integrated oil company that did everything from exploration, extraction and production of oil to the sale of petrol (and sausages).

 The Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) was founded in 1909 to exploit oil fields in Iran. The company was established at the request of the British Ministry of the Navy. The British government owned 51% of the shares from 1914. The company changed its name to British Petroleum (BP) in 1954.

In 1951, Iranian Prime Minister Muhammad Mosaddeq nationalized the country's oil industry. Production and distribution had been controlled by Great Britain through the company APOC, later BP, and the main part of the income taken out of the country. In 1953, the United States and Great Britain supported a coup to depose Mosaddeq. From 1954, Iran's oil industry was again controlled by Western oil companies.

The oil is transported out of the oil fields via pipelines. They go to refineries in the Persian Gulf or north to the Mediterranean, where the oil is pumped into large tankers. The ships carry the oil on to customers all over the world.

This cement bomb was acquired by the Army Air Forces in 1914. Grenades had been dropped from aircraft during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911. During the Mexican Civil War in 1913, an aircraft built to carry bombs was used for the first time.

The petrol can was developed in Germany in the interwar period. The jugs were important for the motorization of the military arms, and enabled rapid movements. They were easy to stack, not particularly heavy and easy to manufacture. From 1939 it was copied by the British, Americans and eventually also in

In 1903, the American Wright brothers made the first flight with a motorized aircraft. In the beginning, military flight was practically dominant, but after the First World War airplanes were used for sports, exploration and surveying, for the transport of goods, mail and passengers in addition to warfare. This propeller was purchased for a smaller aircraft around 1920.

During the First World War, the machine gun was mounted on aircraft, and thus the fighter plane was invented. Propelled by gasoline-powered internal combustion engines, aircraft became a decisive force of war. Britain entered the war in 1914 with 11 trained military pilots, and by the end of the war had more than 20,000 aircraft of various types, 100 airships and nearly 300,000 enlisted men.

The container ship "Bayard" was built for the shipping company Fred. Olsen at the Ankerløkken shipyard in Florø in 1974. The container system was developed in the USA in the 1950s and dramatically reduced the costs of transporting goods. About 90% of all goods we buy have once been in a container.

With the container ship, shipping goods over long distances became cheap. It is more profitable to produce goods where wages are low and transport them to consumers far away than to have factories close to the market. Gradually the ships have grown bigger and bigger, so big that the Panama Canal has become too small. Will the ships get even bigger when the ice melts in the north?

The container ships changed the port areas. Before the containers, the harbors were the core of the city. Unloading, loading and storing containers requires a lot of space, and the ships disappeared from the center to the outskirts of the city.

Small petroleum engines such as this one-cylinder engine produced by Sleipner Motorfabrikk in Fredrikstad in 1908 were adapted to Norwegian fishing. It had traditionally taken place close to the coast in small boats. With a motor, it was possible to get further out to sea, an ocean that was perceived as inexhaustible.

Probably produced in 1912

The engines created new jobs. Smaller shipyards in the districts built the boats, simple slips and workshops repaired them, and fuel had to be refueled. In the 1920s, three out of four boats had Norwegian-made engines from one of the over 120 Norwegian engine factories. The largest was the Rapp motor factory at Rodeløkka in Oslo.

Fresh fish were put on ice and shipped by fast steamship or rail to customers in Europe. Large quantities of sprat and herring went to canneries. Here they were strung on thread, smoked and placed in oil in tins by hand. A medium-sized factory could produce approx. 30,000 boxes per day. The fishing industry was a workplace for many women.

With motorization in the first decades of the 20th century, a good and safe harbor became more important than proximity to the fishing grounds. Villages that had been close to the fishing grounds were depopulated, while the towns further inland grew with fish receptions and processing factories.

The motorboats provided more days at sea and more time for fishing each day in areas increasingly further from land. In addition, machine-driven implements such as the power block meant that the quantity of nets could be increased and the catch increased. The work also became less tiring.

The engines created new jobs. Smaller shipyards in the districts built the boats, simple slips and workshops repaired them, and fuel had to be refueled. In the 1920s, three out of four boats had Norwegian-made engines from one of the over 120 Norwegian engine factories. The largest was the Rapp motor factory at Rodeløkka in Oslo.

In the 1970s, salmon and trout really became Norwegian livestock. Most of the fish is exported. Every day, on average, more than a hundred truckloads of salmon travel from the facilities along the coast to planes, ships or further along the road to customers all over the world.

In the Bessemer process, which was developed by Henry Bessemer in 1855, steel is produced by blowing air into liquid pig iron. The steel was not of the highest quality, but could be produced cheaply and in large quantities. Bessemerstål has played a major role in the rise of modern society. Production of steel is very energy-intensive and is responsible for 7–9% of the world's carbon dioxide emissions with an average of 1.8 tonnes of CO ₂ per tonne of steel.

The Bessemer converter on display can be seen on the museum's 2nd floor. Film: Håkon Bergseth / The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology

The steam engine uses the energy in water vapor from a steam boiler as a driving force to move other machines. The fuel is basically flexible, but most have been fired with coal. Coal has a high energy density compared to, for example, wood. At the same time, burning coal releases large amounts of greenhouse gases. When one kilogram of coal is burned, approximately 2.5 kg of CO is emitted ₂.

If all the fossil fuel that has contributed to the world's CO ₂ emissions between 1750 and 2020 had been placed in 100 barrels, then the consumption in the various parts of the world would have been distributed as you can see inside the peephole. (Africa 3, Asia 33, and North America and Europe 60).

The production does not take population into account.

Source: Our World in Data/Der Spiegel