Paper short abstract:

Cold energy, in the shape of natural ice blocks, was an export commodity from several Norwegian coastal communities from about 1850 until the First World War. The paper presents core traits of the business, which comprised an intricate logistical chain from producers to consumers.

Paper long abstract:

Building on a chapter of the author’s forthcoming PhD thesis, this paper zooms in on the natural ice business, specifically its Norwegian iteration around the middle of the 19th century. It aims firstly to give an overview, emphasizing that regular size ice blocks were elements in systems comprising production, transportation, and storage. The main part of the paper is a tracing of how and why some entrepreneurs established ice exports, when ice was harvested on Norwegian ponds and shipped across the seas to (urban) markets in the UK and on the Continent. Harvesting and using natural ice did, as can be imagined, occur in all Nordic countries, for a variety of purposes. Particular circumstances made it more profitable in some Norwegian districts to engage in ice exports rather than supplying near markets.