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138-524: The Estonian Greens ( Estonian : Erakond Eestimaa Rohelised , EER ) is a green political party in Estonia . Founded in 2006, the party held six seats in the Riigikogu from 2007 to 2011. Its objective is to ensure that Estonia's development is environmentally friendly, sustainable, politically stable and economically efficient. The Estonian Green Movement ( Estonian : Eesti Roheline Liikumine )

276-528: A PhD or equivalent training. The party opposes the defamation of others, distinguishing between defamation and freedom of expression. It aims to amend legislation governing maritime affairs so Estonian shipowners' ships return to the Estonian flag. The party favours a personal election by the single transferable vote method used in the 1990 Supreme Council elections to allow all suitable candidates to be selected, regardless of party affiliation. It supports lowering

414-464: A better distribution of refugees based on national standards of living in the countries, cultural context, natural conditions and the wishes of the refugees, and will fight criminal organisations which benefit from illegal human transport. It encourages international migration for education and work, and supports international initiatives and agreements against tax havens and tax evasion . The party supports international financial stability, including

552-517: A better understanding of educational content and organisation, the development of information technologies, making proposed solutions more reliable and humane, and supporting national co-operatives. It intends to encourage innovation in industry and agriculture, and the abandonment of oil shale as fuel (PÕXIT). The party encourages innovative, knowledge-based, environmentally responsible and employee- and consumer-friendly businesses. It supports fair resource and environmental charges which take into account

690-455: A broad classical education and knew Ancient Greek , Latin and French . Consider roim 'crime' versus English crime or taunima 'to condemn, disapprove' versus Finnish tuomita 'to condemn, to judge' (these Aavikisms appear in Aavik's 1921 dictionary). These words might be better regarded as a peculiar manifestation of morpho-phonemic adaptation of a foreign lexical item. Article 1 of

828-535: A decade before the industry emerged in China, which, besides Estonia, is today the other leading oil shale-exploiting country. In 1916 a total of 640–690 tonnes of oil shale were sent to Saint Petersburg for testing. The tests proved that the oil shale was suitable for combustion as a solid fuel and for extraction of oil shale gas and shale oil. Based on these promising results, a plan for oil shale mining in Estonia

966-524: A decrease in the consumption of electricity and thus a decrease in the need for the oil shale that was mined to produce it. Electricity and shale oil export to former Soviet markets largely ceased. Due to a decrease in demand, the Tammiku and Sompa mines closed in 1999 and those at Kohtla and Ahtme closed in 2001. In 1995, state-owned shale oil producers in Kohtla-Järve and Kiviõli were merged into

1104-558: A department of mining was established at Tallinn Technical University . After World War II , Estonian oil shale gas was used in Saint Petersburg (then called Leningrad) and in northern cities in Estonia as a substitute for natural gas . Increased need for electricity in the north-west of the Soviet Union led to the construction of large oil shale-fired power stations . Oil shale extraction peaked in 1980. Subsequently,

1242-451: A fast rail connection to Riga. The party supports scientifically based fertilizers, innovative solutions for fertiliser dosing, environmentally friendly and grassland farming, and the cultivation and preservation of heirloom plant varieties and animal breeds. The Estonian Greens support health insurance for all citizens, and opportunities for senior citizens and other people with special needs to manage their time well. Loneliness in society as

1380-537: A nationally coordinated network of wildlife relief and rehabilitation centers. It recognises animal rights; treating animals as property contravenes the Animal Welfare Act. Animal-welfare organisations must have the right of appeal against animal abuse. The party supports animal-care requirements based on Animal Welfare Council recommendations for facilitating natural behaviour for the prevention of pain, illness and suffering. Fur farms should be prohibited, and

1518-518: A new legislative provision or appeal of a Riigikogu decision, an opportunity offered by the first period of independence by the Estonian constitution . To organise a referendum, a specified number of signatures must be collected. The referendum will be preceded by a month-long public debate and equal media coverage of both sides. The Estonian Greens support a master's-degree requirement for all ministers. The Minister of Education and Research must have

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1656-578: A new mining and shale oil extraction complex in Ahtme , but it never became operational. Prisoners of war and forced labour made up about two-thirds of the work force in these units. While Soviet troops were advancing into Estonia during 1944 , about 200 Estonian oil shale specialists were evacuated to Schömberg , Germany, to work at an oil shale industry there, codenamed Operation Desert ( Unternehmen Wüste ) . Shale oil extraction plants in Estonia were destroyed and mines were ignited or inundated by

1794-506: A permit to start oil-shale mining in Narva by using underground longwall mining technology. The third open-pit mine, operated by Kunda Nordic Tsement which belongs to German HeidelbergCement group, is located at Ubja. Enefit Power and VKG Oil plan to open jointly a new mine in Oandu . In 2020, 2,225 GWh or 40.3% of Estonia's electricity was generated from oil shale and 748 GWh or 13.6%

1932-405: A plan to build additional oil plant by 2023. At the same time, it cancelled a shale oil pre-refinery project developed jointly with Viru Keemia Grupp. In spring 2021, the government coalition of Estonian Reform Party and Estonian Centre Party put a political target in their coalition agreement to stop oil shale power generation by 2035 and using oil shale in the entire energy sector by 2040 at

2070-570: A result of these inquiries, the Society received information about a combustible mineral found at the Kohala Manor near Rakvere . According to the landlord of the Kohala estate, Baron Fabian Reinhold Ungern-Sternberg, the 'burning rock' was discovered at a depth of about ten meters when a spring was opened on the slope of a sandy hump, as it was during the digging of a well some years earlier on

2208-531: A secret order stating that "development and utilisation of Estonian oil shale industry is the most important military-economic task in the territories of the former Baltic states". On 21 June 1943, Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler issued an order to send as many male Jews as possible to the oil shale mining. Baltische Öl consisted of five units (Kiviõli, Küttejõu, Kohtla-Järve, Sillamäe, and Kohtla), all of which were partially restored, previously existing industries. In addition, Baltische Öl started construction of

2346-663: A shale oil extraction plant that was abandoned in 1931 due to technical problems. The Swedish–Norwegian consortium Eestimaa Õlikonsortsium ( Swedish : Estländska Oljeskifferkonsortiet , English: Estonian Oil Consortium ), controlled by Marcus Wallenberg , was founded in Sillamäe in 1926. New Consolidated Gold Fields Ltd. of the United Kingdom built a shale oil extraction plant at Kohtla-Nõmme in 1931. This facility continued to operate until 1961. In 1934, Eesti Kiviõli and New Consolidated Gold Fields established

2484-473: A single trainload of oil shale had been mined and sent to Germany. After Estonia gained independence , the state owned oil shale enterprise, Riigi Põlevkivitööstus (English: Estonian State Oil Shale Industry ), was established as a department of the Ministry for Trade and Industry on 24 November 1918. The enterprise, later named Esimene Eesti Põlevkivitööstus (English: First Estonian Oil Shale Industry ),

2622-441: A social tax on robots. It encourages the availability and production of local, organic foods in all child-care institutions to support local producers and promote a healthy diet and a sustainable environment. It supports a significant reduction in the production and consumption of meat and animal products, a more-accessible vegetarian diet and the modernisation of Estonia's dietary recommendations. Vegetarian foods should be provided in

2760-472: A solid residue of oil shale. In 1968, a branch of the Skochinsky Institute of Mining was established in Kohtla-Järve, and in 1984 the scientific-technical journal Oil Shale was founded in Estonia. In the 1990s, after Estonia regained independence, the country underwent a restructuring of the economy, causing the collapse of a large part of the heavy industry sector. This collapse led to

2898-475: A stipend near the national average for the field relevant to their doctoral thesis. Free, credit-based higher education should replace the time-based curriculum to allow students to combine learning and work. Research should be funded at one per cent of GDP (three per cent after 10 years), with wasted resources eliminated. Public authorities should be encouraged to outsource research and expert advice on issues of national importance, incorporating their findings into

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3036-474: A substitute for natural gas in Saint Petersburg (then known as Leningrad) and in northern Estonian cities. It was the first time in history that synthetic gas from oil shale was used in households. To enable delivery of the gas, a 200-kilometre (120 mi) pipeline from Kohtla-Järve to Saint Peterburg was built, followed by a 150-kilometre (93 mi) pipeline from Kohtla-Järve to Tallinn. During

3174-429: A whole must be systematically tackled. Efforts should be made to increase the birth rate, strengthen parental security and bring the generations closer together. The party supports home care and innovative nursing homes offering a dignified life, with community activities. The labour market needs increased flexibility in working hours, part-time work, telecommuting, and jobs for people with special needs. The party favours

3312-444: Is kukersite , which has been mined for more than a hundred years. Kukersite deposits in Estonia account for 1% of global oil shale deposits . Oil shale ( Estonian : põlevkivi ; literally 'burning rock') has been defined as a strategic energy resource in Estonia and the oil shale industry in Estonia is one of the most developed in the world. Historically, most of mined oil shale was used for electricity generation . Of all

3450-435: Is a marine -type of black shale , belonging to the marinite -type of oil shales. Although the name dictyonema argillite is widely used instead of graptolitic argillite, it is now considered a misnomer as the graptolite fossils in the rock, earlier considered dictyonemids, were reclassified during the 1980s as members of the genus Rhabdinopora . Graptolitic argillite was formed some 480 million years ago during

3588-681: Is a bilingual German-Estonian translation of the Lutheran catechism by S.   Wanradt and J.   Koell dating to 1535, during the Protestant Reformation period. An Estonian grammar book to be used by priests was printed in German in 1637. The New Testament was translated into the variety of South Estonian called Võro in 1686 (northern Estonian, 1715). The two languages were united based on Northern Estonian by Anton thor Helle . Writings in Estonian became more significant in

3726-534: Is as yet no economical and environmentally friendly technology to extract either the metals or the oil. Kukersite is a light-brown marine-type Late Ordovician oil shale formed some 460 million years ago. It was named kuckers by the Baltic German geologist Carl Friedrich Schmidt in the mid-19th century, and kukersite by the Russian paleobotanist Mikhail Zalessky in 1916. The name reflects

3864-531: Is based on a misinterpretation of the German word Steinöhl (meaning: stone oil), which was used by Hupel but which most likely did not mean oil shale in the context of his publication. In the second half of the 18th century, the St. Petersburg Free Economic Society started to search for information about combustible minerals which as fuels would replace the decreasing stock of trees in the European part of Russia. As

4002-734: Is based on central dialects, it has no vowel harmony either. In the standard language, the front vowels occur exclusively on the first or stressed syllable, although vowel harmony is still apparent in older texts. Typologically, Estonian represents a transitional form from an agglutinating language to a fusional language . The canonical word order is SVO (subject–verb–object), although often debated among linguists. In Estonian, nouns and pronouns do not have grammatical gender , but nouns and adjectives decline in fourteen cases: nominative , genitive , partitive , illative , inessive , elative , allative , adessive , ablative , translative , terminative , essive , abessive , and comitative , with

4140-623: Is between 65 and 67%, and its Fischer Assay oil yield is 30 to 47%. The principal organic component of kukersite is telalginite , which originated from the fossil green alga Gloeocapsomorpha prisca , deposited in a shallow marine basin. Kukersite lies at depths of 7 to 170 metres (23 to 558 ft). The most significant kukersite deposits in Estonia ;– the Estonian and the Tapa ;– cover about 3,000 to 5,000 square kilometres (1,200 to 1,900 sq mi), and together with

4278-457: Is extensive, and this has made its inflectional morphology markedly more fusional , especially with respect to noun and adjective inflection. The transitional form from an agglutinating to a fusional language is a common feature of Estonian typologically over the course of history with the development of a rich morphological system. Word order is considerably more flexible than in English, but

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4416-482: Is often reported that 18th-century naturalist and explorer Johann Anton Güldenstädt had mentioned a discovery of a "burning rock" near Jõhvi in 1725, but his published travel notes mention neither oil shale nor Estonia. It is also often reported that the earliest documented record of oil shale in Estonia, authored by the Baltic German publicist and linguist August Wilhelm Hupel , dates to 1777. However, this

4554-518: Is only 5–8  megajoules per kilogram (MJ/kg; 1,200–1,900 kcal/kg) and its Fischer Assay oil yield is 3–5%. However, the graptolitic argillite resource in Estonia contains a potential 2.1 billion tonnes of oil. In addition, it contains 5.67 million tonnes of uranium  – making it one of the main potential sources of uranium in Europe  – 16.53 million tonnes of zinc , and 12.76 million tonnes of molybdenum . There

4692-536: Is planned to be phased out by 2030. The industry continues to have a serious impact on the environment producing ordinary and hazardous waste and greenhouse gas emissions , lowering groundwater levels, altering water circulation , and spoiling water quality. Leachates from waste heaps pollute surface and groundwater. Former and current oil shale mines cover about one percent of Estonia's territory. Estonian graptolitic argillite (also known as dictyonema argillite, dictyonema oil shale, dictyonema shale or alum shale)

4830-648: Is pronounced [æ], as in English mat . The vowels Ä, Ö and Ü are clearly separate phonemes and inherent in Estonian, although the letter shapes come from German. The letter õ denotes /ɤ/ , unrounded /o/ , or a close-mid back unrounded vowel . It is almost identical to the Bulgarian ъ /ɤ̞/ and the Vietnamese ơ , and is also used to transcribe the Russian ы . Additionally C , Q , W , X , and Y are used in writing foreign proper names . They do not occur in Estonian words , and are not officially part of

4968-492: Is pronounced) and in the use of 'i' and 'j'. Where it is very impractical or impossible to type š and ž , they are replaced by sh and zh in some written texts, although this is considered incorrect. Otherwise, the h in sh represents a voiceless glottal fricative , as in Pasha ( pas-ha ); this also applies to some foreign names. Modern Estonian orthography is based on the "Newer orthography" created by Eduard Ahrens in

5106-531: Is typically subclassified as a Southern Finnic language, and it is the second-most-spoken language among all the Finnic languages. Alongside Finnish, Hungarian , and Maltese , Estonian is one of the four official languages of the European Union that are not Indo-European languages . In terms of linguistic morphology , Estonian is a predominantly agglutinative language . The loss of word-final sounds

5244-757: The idamurre or eastern dialect on the northwestern shore of Lake Peipus . One of the pronunciation features of the Saaremaa dialect is the lack of the 'õ' vowel. A five-metre monument erected in 2020, marking the "border" between the vowels 'õ' and 'ö', humorously makes reference to this fact. South Estonian consists of the Tartu, Mulgi, Võro and Seto varieties. These are sometimes considered either variants of South Estonian or separate languages altogether. Also, Seto and Võro distinguish themselves from each other less by language and more by their culture and their respective Christian confession. Estonian employs

5382-497: The Livonian Chronicle of Henry contains Estonian place names, words and fragments of sentences. The earliest extant samples of connected (north) Estonian are the so-called Kullamaa prayers dating from 1524 and 1528. In 1525 the first book published in Estonian was printed. The book was a Lutheran manuscript, which never reached the reader and was destroyed immediately after publication. The first extant Estonian book

5520-596: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Estonian and English: Oil shale in Estonia There are two kinds of oil shale in Estonia , both of which are sedimentary rocks laid down during the Ordovician geologic period . Graptolitic argillite is the larger oil shale resource , but, because its organic matter content is relatively low, it is not used industrially. The other

5658-615: The Early Ordovician under a marine environment. In mainland Estonia, it occurs at the foot of the North Estonian Klint , ranging from the Pakri Peninsula to Narva in an area covering about 11,000 square kilometres (4,200 sq mi). When findings in the western Estonian islands are included, its extent increases to about 12,200 square kilometres (4,700 sq mi). The thickness of

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5796-554: The Estonian Defence Forces . The party supports a reduction in the country's defence budget to two per cent of GDP, and an expanded capacity for the development and implementation of defence and security technologies by participating in international exercises. The party supports activities which help preserve natural landscapes, ecosystems and communities, increase the self-purification of water bodies and improve ecological status. It aims to stop deforestation, making

5934-712: The Germanic languages have very different origins and the vocabulary is considered quite different from that of the Indo-European family, one can identify many similar words in Estonian and English, for example. This is primarily because Estonian has borrowed nearly one-third of its vocabulary from Germanic languages, mainly from Low Saxon ( Middle Low German ) during the period of German rule , and High German (including standard German ). The percentage of Low Saxon and High German loanwords can be estimated at 22–25 percent, with Low Saxon making up about 15 percent. Prior to

6072-581: The Latin script as the basis for its alphabet . The script adds the letters ä , ö , ü , and õ , plus the later additions š and ž . The letters c , q , w , x and y are limited to proper names of foreign origin, and f , z , š , and ž appear in loanwords and foreign names only. Ö and Ü are pronounced similarly to their equivalents in Swedish and German. Unlike in standard German but like Swedish (when followed by 'r') and Finnish, Ä

6210-536: The Proto-Finnic language , elision has occurred; thus, the actual case marker may be absent, but the stem is changed, cf. maja – majja and the Ostrobothnia dialect of Finnish maja – majahan . The verbal system has no distinct future tense (the present tense serves here) and features special forms to express an action performed by an undetermined subject (the "impersonal"). Although Estonian and

6348-783: The Russian SFSR , particularly the Leningrad Nuclear Power Station . At the end of 1988, a fire broke out in the Estonia Mine. The largest underground fire in Estonia, it continued for 81 days and caused serious pollution of ground and surface waters. The shale oil industry at Kohtla-Järve and Kiviõli was redeveloped. In 1945, the first tunnel kiln was restored, and by the end of the 1940s four tunnel kilns located in Kiviõli and Kohtla-Nõmme had been restored. German prisoners of war contributed most of

6486-615: The Singing Revolution , met with strong local opposition and was never implemented. Between 1946 and 1952, uranium compounds were extracted from locally mined graptolitic argillite at the Sillamäe Processing Plant (now: Silmet ). More than 60 tonnes of uranium compounds (corresponding to 22.5 tonnes of elemental uranium) were produced. Some sources note that uranium produced in Sillamäe

6624-599: The Tallinn Power Station switched to oil shale. In 1933, it reached a capacity of 22  megawatts (MW). Other oil shale-fired power stations were built in Püssi (3.7 MW), Kohtla (3.7 MW), Kunda (2.3 MW), and Kiviõli (0.8 MW). At the beginning of World War II, the total capacity of oil shale-fired power stations was 32.5 MW. Only the Tallinn and Püssi power stations were connected to

6762-630: The Tobin tax . It supports the rights of peaceful self-determination and cultural sovereignty, and opposes territorial, economic or other concessions to totalitarian states . Estonian language Estonian belongs to the Finnic branch of the Uralic language family . Other Finnic languages include Finnish and some minority languages spoken around the Baltic Sea and in northwestern Russia. Estonian

6900-535: The grid . On 9 May 1922 the first international discussion of Estonian kukersite took place at the 64th meeting of the Institution of Petroleum Technologists. Systematic research into oil shale and its products began at Tartu University's Oil Shale Research Laboratory in 1925, initiated by professor Paul Kogerman . In 1937, the Geological Committee under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and

7038-401: The room and pillar mining method. Oil shale mined at Ojamaa is transported to the processing plant by a unique 13-kilometre (8.1 mi) conveyor belt . Although there are similar conveyors in operation in other countries, the one at Ojamaa is an unusually challenging installation since its path contains many curves and sharp turns. The Narva open-pit mine is operated by Enefit Power, and

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7176-440: The voting age to 16, and the expansion of local-government revenue base by transferring most personal-income and corporate taxes to local governments. The party supports security authorities, the police and the tax administration, and civilian control of their activities. It supports shorter compulsory military service and longer recurrent training. The Estonian Defence League should be strengthened, with greater cooperation with

7314-485: The 1870s to the 1890s) tried to use formation ex nihilo ( Urschöpfung ); i.e. they created new words out of nothing. The most well-known reformer of Estonian, Johannes Aavik (1880–1973), used creations ex nihilo (cf. 'free constructions', Tauli 1977), along with other sources of lexical enrichment such as derivations, compositions and loanwords (often from Finnish; cf. Saareste and Raun 1965: 76). In Aavik's dictionary (1921) lists approximately 4000 words. About 40 of

7452-553: The 18th and 19th centuries based on the dialects of northern Estonia. During the Medieval and Early Modern periods, Estonian accepted many loanwords from Germanic languages , mainly from Middle Low German (Middle Saxon) and, after the 16th-century Protestant Reformation , from the Standard German language. Estonia's oldest written records of the Finnic languages date from the 13th century. The "Originates Livoniae" in

7590-926: The 1930s. There are 9 vowels and 36 diphthongs , 28 of which are native to Estonian. All nine vowels can appear as the first component of a diphthong, but only /ɑ e i o u/ occur as the second component. A vowel characteristic of Estonian is the unrounded back vowel /ɤ/, which may be close-mid back , close back , or close-mid central . Word-initial b, d, g occur only in loanwords and some old loanwords are spelled with p, t, k instead of etymological b, d, g : pank 'bank'. Word-medially and word-finally, b, d, g represent short plosives /p, t, k/ (may be pronounced as partially voiced consonants), p, t, k represent half-long plosives /pː, tː, kː/, and pp, tt, kk represent overlong plosives /pːː, tːː, kːː/; for example: kabi /kɑpi/ 'hoof' — kapi /kɑpːi/ 'wardrobe [ gen sg ] — kappi /kɑpːːi/ 'wardrobe [ ptv sg ]'. Before and after b, p, d, t, g, k, s, h, f, š, z, ž ,

7728-540: The 1950s, unsuccessful tests of oil shale underground gasification were conducted at Kiviõli. In 1962 and 1963, the conversion of oil shale gas into ammonium was tested; however, for industrial production, oil shale gas was replaced with natural gas. Although this gas had become uneconomical by 1958, production continued and was even expanded. After peaking in 1976 at 597.4 million cubic metres (21.10 × 10 ^  cu ft), oil shale gas production ceased in 1987. In total, 276 generators were operated for

7866-524: The 19th century during the Estophile Enlightenment Period (1750–1840). The birth of native Estonian literature was during the period 1810–1820, when the patriotic and philosophical poems by Kristjan Jaak Peterson were published. Peterson, who was the first student to acknowledge his Estonian origin at the then German-language University of Dorpat , is commonly regarded as a herald of Estonian national literature and considered

8004-538: The 19th century. In the beginning of the 20th century, geologist and engineer Carl August von Mickwitz studied self-ignition of graptolitic argillite near Paldiski . At the University of Tartu oil shale geology and chemistry analyses were conducted during the 19th century by Georg Paul Alexander Petzholdt, Alexander Gustav von Schrenk, and Carl Ernst Heinrich Schmidt , among others. Analysis of Estonian oil shale resources and mining possibilities intensified during

8142-490: The 200 words created by Johannes Aavik allegedly ex nihilo are in common use today. Examples are * ese 'object', * kolp 'skull', * liibuma 'to cling', * naasma 'to return, come back', * nõme 'stupid, dull'. Many of the coinages that have been considered (often by Aavik himself) as words concocted ex nihilo could well have been influenced by foreign lexical items; for example, words from Russian , German , French , Finnish , English and Swedish . Aavik had

8280-523: The Baltic German geologist Gregor von Helmersen published a detailed description of the deposits of kukersite in Vanamõisa and graptolitic argillite in Keila-Joa . In 1838 he made a thorough experiment to distil oil from the Vanamõisa oil shale deposit. During the 1850s, large-scale works were undertaken in Estonia to transform excessively wet land into land suitable for agriculture; this included

8418-767: The Estonian Greens ( Erakond Eesti Rohelised ). One representative of the Greens' electoral coalition, Rein Järlik , was elected to parliament in September 1992. The Estonian Greens were removed as a registered party on 21 May 1998 due to its lack of the required 1,000 members. Some former Estonian Greens members then joined the Estonian Centre Party . Organiser Valdur Lahtvee reported that on 1 November 2006, more than 1,000 members had been recruited for

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8556-418: The Estonian community is sufficiently large. Equal opportunities should exist at all levels of education, and primary and secondary schools should be decentralised. A student's school should be near their home. Local dialects and culture, based on cultural autonomy, should be taught. Every child should have the opportunity to participate, free of charge, in at least one recreational activity. The party opposes

8694-594: The Estonian territory. This entity was subordinated to Kontinentale Öl , a company that had exclusive rights to oil production in German-occupied territories . The primary purpose of the industry was production of oil for the German Army . In 1943, after the German troops retreated from the Caspian oil region, Estonian oil shale became increasingly important. On 16 March 1943, Hermann Göring issued

8832-603: The Estophile educated class admired the ancient culture of the Estonians and their era of freedom before the conquests by Danes and Germans in the 13th century. When the Republic of Estonia was established in 1918, Estonian became the official language of the newly independent country. Immediately after World War II , in 1945, over 97% of the then population of Estonia self-identified as native ethnic Estonians and spoke

8970-501: The German name for Kukruse Manor , where oil shale samples were obtained. Kukersite deposits in Estonia are the world's second highest-grade oil shale deposits after the Australian torbanite . Its organic content varies from 15% to 55%, averaging over 40%. Correspondingly, its mean calorific value is 15 MJ/kg (3,600 kcal/kg). The conversion ratio of its organic content into usable energy (shale oil and oil shale gas)

9108-661: The Government transferred its remained shares in Eesti Põlevkivi to a state-owned company Eesti Energia, a parent company of the Narva Power Stations, and Eesti Põlevkivi became a fully owned subsidiary of Eesti Energia. Oil shale production started to increase again in the beginning of the 21st century. In 2000, the open-pit mines at Viivikonna, Sirgala and Narva were merged into the single Narva open-pit mine. Since 2003, several new mines were opened:

9246-602: The Green Party Initiative Group to register as a political party . This opened the doors to run in the March 2007 Estonian parliamentary election . The current Estonian Greens party ( Erakond Eestimaa Rohelised ), was founded on 25 November 2006, when the party held its founding general assembly with 361 of the total 1,203 founding members present. The party's programme was ratified and a board of 13 members elected. According to Marek Strandberg , its goal

9384-440: The Greens received 1.8 per cent of the vote in the 2019 election under her leadership, they did not win any seats due to the five-percent threshold. After a dissappointing showing in the 2021 municipal elections , where, with the exception of 2 seats in the municipal council of Antsla , the party did not manage to gain any seats nationwide, Izmailova announced she would not re-run for party leadership. Izmailova subsequently left

9522-521: The Institute of Natural Resources, an independent academic institution, were established. A department of mining was established at Tallinn Technical University in 1938. Estonian oil shale industries conducted tests of oil shale samples from Australia , Bulgaria , Germany and South Africa . Soon after the Soviet occupation in 1940, the entire oil shale industry was nationalised and subordinated to

9660-528: The Kohtla-Järve shale oil combinate ( Russian : Сланцехим , now Viru Keemia Grupp) under the General Directorate of Synthetic Liquid Fuel and Gas of the USSR ( Glavgaztopprom ). Both organisations were directed from Moscow. New mines were opened in Ahtme (1948), Jõhvi (No. 2, 1949), Sompa (1949), Tammiku (1951), and in the area between Käva and Sompa (No. 4, 1953). The Küttejõu open-pit mine

9798-590: The Kukruse area, concluded it made sense to use oil shale for the production of gas and as a solid fuel. However, he considered shale oil production unprofitable. During the remainder of the 19th century oil shale was used locally as a low-grade fuel only. For example, in the 1870s, Robert von Toll, landlord of the Kukruse Manor, started to use oil shale as a fuel for the manor's distillery. There were failed attempts to use graptolitic argillite as fertilizer in

9936-635: The Leningrad deposit (an extension of the Estonian) form the Baltic Oil Shale Basin . The Estonian deposit, which covers about 2,000 square kilometres (770 sq mi), is used industrially. It consists of 23 exploration and mining fields. The Tapa deposit is not accounted as a reserve due to its lower calorific value, which makes its extraction economically inexpedient. In northern Estonia there are 50 layers of kukersite;

10074-534: The Mining Office and later to the General Directorate of Mining and Fuel Industry of the Peoples' Commissariat for Light Industry. Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 and the industry's infrastructure was largely destroyed by retreating Soviet forces. During the subsequent German occupation , the industry was merged into a company named Baltische Öl GmbH. Baltische Öl became the largest industry in

10212-412: The Narva Power Stations, the largest consumer of oil shale in Estonia. As a part of the deal, 51% of the government-owned shares in the oil shale mining company Eesti Põlevkivi was transferred to the Narva Power Stations. The proposed deal with NRG Energy met a strong public and political opposition and was cancelled after NRG Energy failed the deadline to secure financing for the project. Consequently,

10350-684: The Narva Power Stations. Construction of the Auvere Power Station, located next to the existing Eesti Power Station, began in 2012. In the end of 2012, the Ahtme Power Station was closed. In 2008, Eesti Energia established a joint venture, Enefit Outotec Technology, with the Finnish technology company Outotec . The venture sought to develop and commercialise a modified Galoter process–the Enefit process–that would enhance

10488-671: The Põhja-Kiviõli open-pit mine in 2003, the Ubja open-pit mine in 2005, and the Ojamaa underground mine in 2010. By 2006, after 90 years of major mining in Estonia, the total amount of mined oil shale reached one billion tonnes. The exhausted Aidu open-pit mine was closed in 2012, followed a year later by the Viru underground mine. In 2004, two power units with circulating fluidised bed combustion boilers were put into operation at

10626-433: The Põhja-Kiviõli open-pit mine is operated by privately owned Kiviõli Keemiatööstus. Both mines use highly selective extraction in three layers of seams. The Narva mine uses a technology that involves breaking up both the overburden and the targeted deposits by blasting and then stripping the rock with relatively large-bucket (10–35 cubic metres or 350–1,240 cubic feet) excavators . The company has applied and received

10764-468: The Russian geologist Nikolay Pogrebov oversaw mining of the first tonnes of oil shale at Pavandu and delivered it to Saint Petersburg (then Petrograd) Polytechnic Institute for large-scale experiments. These events marking the beginning of the Estonian oil shale industry took place more than half a century after an oil shale industry had emerged in Scotland, the leading oil shale industry in 1916, and

10902-410: The alphabet. Including all the foreign letters, the alphabet consists of the following 32 letters: Although the Estonian orthography is generally guided by phonemic principles, with each grapheme corresponding to one phoneme , there are some historical and morphological deviations from this: for example preservation of the morpheme in declension of the word (writing b, g, d in places where p, k, t

11040-441: The basic order is subject–verb–object . The speakers of the two major historical languages spoken in Estonia, North and South Estonian , are thought by some linguists to have arrived in Estonia in at least two different migration waves over two millennia ago, both groups having spoken considerably different vernacular; South Estonian might be a Finnic language rather than a variety of Estonian. Modern standard Estonian evolved in

11178-413: The case and number of the adjective always agreeing with that of the noun (except in the terminative, essive, abessive and comitative, where there is agreement only for the number, the adjective being in the genitive form). Thus the illative for kollane maja ("a yellow house") is kollasesse majja ("into a yellow house"), but the terminative is kollase majani ("as far as a yellow house"). With respect to

11316-476: The cost of the oil-shale sector. Social and economic problems associated with the closure of the oil-shale sector in Ida-Viru County can be mitigated with resource royalties. The party's objectives in the energy sector are: The party aims to make Estonia a country of participatory, direct democracy based on regular referendums , similar to Switzerland . Legislate by referendum the introduction of

11454-634: The decision-making process. The requirement to purchase research materials should be abolished; in most cases, the number of potential bidders is limited. Researchers should be supported for European research, cooperation with foreign research institutes and participation in research networks. The party supports free-enterprise research grants from taxation on the same basis as government stock exchanges and tax incentives for private investment in science. Tax breaks should be given to foreign research graduates conducting research (including postdoctoral research) during their early years in Estonia. The party prioritises

11592-592: The development of the Republic of Estonia is environmentally friendly, sustainable, politically stable and economically efficient. The party opposes the excessive centralisation of political, administrative and economic power, favouring autonomous decision-making and the importance of citizen participation in decision-making at all levels. It vigorously supports science: involving researchers in decision-making processes, implementing research results, strengthening health care and guaranteeing public access to health services,

11730-422: The digging of drainage ditches. In the process, previously unknown layers of oil shale were discovered in several locations. In the years 1850–1857, the territory of Estonia was explored by the Baltic German geologist Carl Friedrich Schmidt who studied these findings of oil shale. Russian chemist Aleksandr Shamarin, who at the end of the 1860s had studied the composition and properties of oil shale originating from

11868-487: The early 20th century while Estonia was part of the Russian Empire . Industrial development was under way in Saint Petersburg (known as Petrograd in 1914–24), but regional fuel resources were in short supply. A large shale oil extraction plant for processing Estonian oil shale was proposed in 1910. The outbreak of World War I , coupled with a fuel supply crisis, accelerated the pace of the research. In June 1916,

12006-467: The efficient use of resources, energy efficiency and innovation. It supports reforming the EU's Common Agricultural Policy to ensure a more equitable, sustainable rural organisation. Only sustainable and environmentally-friendly businesses would receive agricultural subsidies. Environmental protection and health in the European Union must be more important than a free, borderless market economy. The party supports

12144-422: The end of the 20th century has brought the proportion of native Estonian-speakers in Estonia now back above 70%. Large parts of the first- and second-generation immigrants in Estonia have now adopted Estonian (over 50% as of the 2022 census). The Estonian dialects are divided into two groups – the northern and southern dialects, historically associated with the cities of Tallinn in the north and Tartu in

12282-718: The existing technology by using circulating fluidised beds . In 2013, Enefit Outotec Technology opened an Enefit testing plant in Frankfurt . Kiviõli Keemiatööstus began to test two Galoter-type retorts in 2006. Eesti Energia opened a new generation Galoter-type plant using Enefit 280 technology in 2012. VKG Oil opened three new Galoter-type oil plants called Petroter correspondingly in December 2009, in October 2014, and in November 2015. In 2020, Eesti Energia announced

12420-554: The former between 1959 and 1971 and the latter between 1969 and 1973. The stations, collectively known as the Narva Power Stations , are the world's two largest oil shale-fired power stations. In 1988 Moscow-based authorities planned a third oil shale-fired power station in Narva with a capacity of 2,500 MW, together with a new mine at Kuremäe . The plan, disclosed at the time of the Phosphorite War and

12558-535: The founder of modern Estonian poetry. His birthday, March 14, is celebrated in Estonia as Mother Tongue Day. A fragment from Peterson's poem "Kuu" expresses the claim reestablishing the birthright of the Estonian language: In English: In the period from 1525 to 1917, 14,503 titles were published in Estonian; by comparison, between 1918 and 1940, 23,868 titles were published. In modern times A. H. Tammsaare , Jaan Kross , and Andrus Kivirähk are Estonia 's best-known and most translated writers. Estonians lead

12696-578: The gas production. In 1949, the 48 MW Kohtla-Järve Power Station  – the first power station in the world to use pulverised oil shale at an industrial scale – was commissioned, followed by the 72.5 MW Ahtme Power Station in 1951. To ensure sufficient electricity supply in Estonia, Latvia and north-west Russia, the Balti Power Station (1,430 MW) and the Eesti Power Station (1,610 MW) were built,

12834-579: The impact of the oil shale industry transition. The oil shale industry in Estonia is one of the most developed in the world. The National Development Plan for the Utilisation of Oil Shale 2016–2030 describes oil shale as a strategic resource. Estonia is the only country in the world that uses oil shale as its primary energy source. In 2018, oil shale accounted for 72% of Estonia's total domestic energy production and supplied 73% of Estonia's total primary energy . About 7,300 people (over 1% of

12972-655: The labour. Between 1946 and 1963, 13 Kiviter-type retorts were built in Kohtla-Järve and eight in Kiviõli. In 1947, a pilot Galoter retort was built at the Ilmarine engineering plant in Tallinn. This unit, in operation until 1956, was capable of processing 2.5 tonnes of oil shale per day and was used for modelling the next generation of commercial-scale retorts. The first Galoter-type commercial-scale pilot retorts were built at Kiviõli in 1953 and 1963 with capacities of 200 and 500 tonnes of oil shale per day, respectively. The first of these retorts closed in 1963 and

13110-456: The language. When Estonia was invaded and reoccupied by the Soviet army in 1944, the status of Estonian effectively changed to one of the two official languages (Russian being the other one). Many immigrants from Russia entered Estonia under Soviet encouragement. In the 1970s, the pressure of bilingualism for Estonians was intensified. Although teaching Estonian to non-Estonians in local schools

13248-408: The largest oil shale mine in the world. Because of the success of oil shale-based power generation, Estonian oil shale mining peaked in 1980 at 31.35 million tonnes, and in the same year power generation peaked at 18.9 TWh. The industry declined during the subsequent two decades. Demand for electric power generated from oil shale decreased following construction of nuclear power stations in

13386-571: The latest. Shortly after, Eesti Energia announced it will stop burning oil shale for electricity generation by 2025 and burning oil shale gas by 2030. It will close older type shale oil plants by 2040 while in newer generation shale oil plants oil shale will be replaced with waste plastics. Estonia is negotiating with the European Commission to receive €340 million support from the Just Transition Fund to mitigate

13524-480: The launch of nuclear reactors in Russia, particularly the Leningrad Nuclear Power Station , reduced demand for electricity produced from oil shale, and, along with a post-Soviet restructuring of the industry in the 1990s, led to a decrease in oil shale mining. After decreasing for two decades, oil shale mining started to increase again at the beginning of the 21st century. Most oil-shale fuelled electricity generation

13662-615: The layer varies from less than 0.5 metres (1 ft 8 in) to a maximum of 8 metres (26 ft) in western Estonia, and its depth below the surface varies from 10 to 90 metres (33 to 295 ft). Resources of graptolitic argillite in Estonia have been estimated at 60–70 billion tonnes. Although resources of graptolitic argillite exceed that of kukersite, attempts to use it as an energy source have been unsuccessful due to its low calorific value and high sulfur content. Its organic content ranges from 10 to 20% and its sulfur content from 2 to 4%. Correspondingly, its calorific value

13800-701: The lumber industry sustainable and limiting cutting to less than five million cubic meters at least until 2030 to compensate for previous overcutting. Loggers (public and private) must negotiate with local communities, presenting a list of benefits and impacts of the planned logging. The local community must have a pre-emptive right to purchase forest land and logging rights. Damage to sites and ecosystems must be taxed. Public funds should not be used to intensify forest management with roads and ditches. Environmental taxes for disposal of unsorted waste should be raised. Nature-conservation restrictions on private roads should be compensated equitably and efficiently. The party supports

13938-547: The method developed by Julius Pintsch AG that would later evolve into the current Kiviter processing technology. Along with the shale oil extraction plant, an oil shale research laboratory was founded in 1921. Following the experimental retorts, the first commercial shale oil plant was put into operation on 24 December 1924. The German-owned company Eesti Kiviõli ( German : Estländische Steinöl , English: Estonian Stone Oil , predecessor of Kiviõli Keemiatööstus), affiliated with G. Scheel & Co. and Mendelssohn & Co. ,

14076-734: The multilateral global order and pan-European cooperation. The central role of the United Nations as a platform for global agreements must be maintained, but the decision-making power of the permanent members of the Security Council must be reduced in favour of the General Assembly . Estonia must contribute to and participate in the work of European Union institutions, protecting its interests and providing its point of view. The party aims to base EU economic policy on public interest and global justice, which must promote

14214-481: The oil shale basin in northeast Estonia was occupied by German troops . During this occupation, mining activities were carried out at Pavandu by the German company Internationales Baukonsortium (English: International Construction Consortium ), including sending oil shale to Germany for research and experimentation. This work used a retort constructed by Julius Pintsch AG , known as a Pintsch generator. In late 1918, German forces left Estonia, by which time no more than

14352-435: The oil shale fired power stations in the world, the two largest are in Estonia. Although its share decreased in the decade to 2022, direct and indirect use of oil shale still generates about half of Estonia's electricity . About half of mined oil shale is used to produce shale oil , a type of synthetic oil extracted from oil shale by pyrolysis , which is sufficient to keep Estonia as the second largest shale oil producer in

14490-633: The party and joined the Estonian Social Democratic Party . In 2024, the Green party congress elected Evelyn Sepp and Mihkel Kangur as party co-chairs. Under new leadership the party participated in the 2024 European Parliament elections . The party garnered a result of 0.62% and failed to gain any seats in the European Parliament. The Estonian Greens have a democratic parliamentary policy aimed at ensuring that

14628-444: The party opposes breeding which does not respect animal welfare. The party supports alternative civilian service to clean up waste, plant forests and participate in other environmental initiatives. Large-scale projects with a negative environmental impact (such as Rail Baltica , large wood refineries based on outdated technology and new shale-oil processing plants) should be abandoned. A national rail network should be developed, with

14766-400: The party. At the party congress in 2023, the party elected Johanna Maria Tõugu and Marko Kaasik as party co-chairs. After a dissappointing showing at the 2023 Estonian parliamentary election , where the party managed to garner a mere 0.96% of the vote and once again failed to gain any seats in parliament, Tõugu and Kaasik announced stepping down from party leadership. Tõugu subsequently left

14904-427: The price of oil shale-based gasoline was at least triple that of global gasoline prices, high production and bilateral agreements with Germany facilitated its export. In 1939, Estonia produced 181,000 tonnes of shale oil, including 22,500 tonnes of oil that were suitable gasoline equivalents. The mining and oil industry employed 6,150 persons. The oil shale-fired electrical power industry started in 1924 when

15042-720: The public sector, including educational and health institutions. The party supports the reform of alcohol and drug policies, with advertising for alcohol and tobacco prohibited. Excise taxes on alcohol in the Baltic states should be standardised and mind-altering substances (such as cannabis and indigenous entheogens ) should be regulated, rather than prohibited. The party supports a flexible, values-oriented curriculum. The link between theoretical learning and everyday life should be strengthened by, for example, outdoor training. Education should be more creative and collective. Secondary schools should offer optional professional subjects and use

15180-411: The ratio of underground mining to open-pit mining has been approximately even, but usable deposits close to the surface has become scarcer. The Estonia underground mine at Väike-Pungerja , operated by Enefit Power, a subsidiary of Eesti Energia, is the largest oil shale mine in the world. The other underground mine, operated by privately owned Viru Keemia Grupp, is located at Ojamaa . Both mines use

15318-480: The replacement of Estonian bachelor's-degree programs with English-language specialties. Teaching and research staffs should be certified separately. Working students should be able to study part-time free of charge. The interest rate on student loans should be lowered to the cost of living, and repayment terms extended. Part of the student loan should be forgiven at the birth of a child or the beginning of public-sector employment. Each doctoral candidate should receive

15456-404: The retreating Germans. Existing oil shale-fired power stations were also destroyed. In 1945–1946 the mining industry was merged into Eesti Põlevkivi ( Russian : Эстонсланец , literally: Estonian Oil Shale; now part of Enefit Power ) under the General Directorate of Oil Shale Industry of the USSR ( Glavslanets ). Shale oil extraction, except the Kiviõli and Kohtla-Nõmme plants, was merged into

15594-707: The right of the EU member states to protect their environment and their consumers. The party questions the legislative powers of the European Commission (unlike the European Parliament ). Members of the European Parliament and political groups must have the right to initiate projects, and Parliament should have the final decision-making power over EU laws of the European Union (the case with national parliaments). Estonia and other European countries must contribute to development and humanitarian aid in conflict areas, minimising mass civilian migration. The party favours

15732-681: The same slope. This discovery was briefly mentioned in a paper prepared by the German chemist Johann Gottlieb Georgi and presented by the Actual State Councillor Anton-Johann Engelhardt at the meeting of the Society in 1789. The first scientific research into the rock's oil yield, using samples from the village of Vanamõisa of the Kohala Manor, was published by Georgi at the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1791. In 1838 and 1839,

15870-492: The second half of the 19th   century based on Finnish orthography. The "Older orthography" it replaced was created in the 17th   century by Bengt Gottfried Forselius and Johann Hornung based on standard German orthography. Earlier writing in Estonian had, by and large, used an ad hoc orthography based on Latin and Middle Low German orthography. Some influences of the standard German orthography – for example, writing 'W'/'w' instead of 'V'/'v' – persisted well into

16008-474: The second in 1981. The Narva Oil Plant , annexed to the Eesti Power Station and operating two Galoter-type 3,000-tonnes-per day retorts, was commissioned in 1980. Started as a pilot plant, the process of converting it to a commercial-scale plant took about 20 years. In 1948 an oil shale gas plant in Kohtla-Järve became operational, and for several decades the oil shale gas was used as

16146-653: The service station chain Trustivapaa Bensiini (now: Teboil ) in Finland , which in 1940 sold more shale-oil-derived gasoline in Finland than did the entire conventional gasoline market in Estonia. Since 1935, Estonian shale oil has been supplied to the German Kriegsmarine as a ship fuel. In 1938, 45% of Estonian shale oil was exported, accounting for 8% of Estonia's total exports. Although

16284-400: The single company named RAS Kiviter. In 1997, Kiviter was privatized and a year later it declared insolvency. Its factories in Kohtla-Järve and Kiviõli were sold separately and new oil producers – Viru Keemia Grupp and Kiviõli Keemiatööstus – emerged. In 1995, the Government of Estonia started negotiations with American company NRG Energy to create a joint venture on the basis of

16422-997: The six lowest of these form a 2.5-to-3-metre (8 ft 2 in to 9 ft 10 in) thick mineable bed . In this area kukersite lies near the surface. To the south and west it lies deeper and its thickness and quality decrease. According to the International Energy Agency , Estonia's kukersite represents about 1.1% of global and 17% of European oil shale resources. The total kukersite resources in Estonia are estimated to be about 4.8 billion tonnes, including 1.3 billion tonnes of economically proven and probable reserves. Economically proven and probable reserves consist of mineable deposits with energy ratings of at least 35  gigajoules per square metre and calorific values of at least 8 MJ/kg, located in areas without environmental restrictions. Up to 650 million tonnes of economically proven and probable reserves are designated as recoverable. It

16560-419: The sounds [p], [t], [k] are written as p, t, k , with some exceptions due to morphology or etymology. Representation of palatalised consonants is inconsistent, and they are not always indicated. ŋ is an allophone of /n/ before /k/. While peripheral Estonian dialects are characterized by various degrees of vowel harmony , central dialects have almost completely lost the feature. Since the standard language

16698-405: The south, in addition to a distinct kirderanniku dialect, Northeastern coastal Estonian . The northern group consists of the keskmurre or central dialect that is also the basis for the standard language, the läänemurre or western dialect, roughly corresponding to Lääne County and Pärnu County , the saarte murre (islands' dialect) of Saaremaa , Hiiumaa , Muhu and Kihnu , and

16836-475: The summer of 1917. After the October Revolution , financing ceased and construction stopped. Two private Saint Petersburg firms, established specially for oil shale mining, Böckel & Co. and Mutschnik & Co., which in the fall of 1916 had begun surface mining at Kukruse and Järve, respectively, also terminated their mining activities in 1917. In February 1918, the area surrounding

16974-438: The technical basis of vocational schools as much as possible. Lifelong learning should be supported, with environmental principles and respect for nature integrated into all curricula, levels of education, subjects and educational institutions. Teachers should be recruited, with support for specialisation and research. The preservation and expansion of Estonian language-learning opportunities should be supported in foreign schools if

17112-694: The total workforce in Estonia) were employed in the oil shale industry. The state revenue from oil shale production was about €122 million. Estonia has adopted a national development plan that limits the annual mining of oil shale to 20 million tonnes. If mined at this rate, mineable reserves will last for 25–30 years. In 2019, 12.127 million tonnes of oil shale were mined. As of 2021, five oil shale mines are in operation; three are open-pit mines and two are underground mines. The mines are owned by four companies. Several mining companies have applied for permits for opening new mines. Historically,

17250-511: The total) and held six seats in the Riigikogu until 2011. The Greens received 21,824 votes (3.8 percent of the total) in the March 2011 parliamentary election , losing their six seats in the Riigikogu. In the 2015 parliamentary elections , the Greens received 0.9 per cent of the vote and no seats in parliament. Züleyxa Izmailova was elected the party's chairwoman in March 2017. Although

17388-514: The wave of new loanwords from English in the 20th and 21st centuries, historically, Swedish and Russian were also sources of borrowings but to a much lesser extent. In borrowings, often 'b' and 'p' are interchangeable, for example 'baggage' becomes 'pagas', 'lob' (to throw) becomes 'loopima'. The initial letter 's' before another consonant is often dropped, for example 'skool' becomes 'kool', 'stool' becomes 'tool'. Estonian language planners such as Ado Grenzstein (a journalist active in Estonia from

17526-517: The world after China. In addition, oil shale and its products are used in Estonia for district heating and as a feedstock material for the cement industry. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Estonian oil shale was described by several scientists and used as a low-grade fuel. Its use in industry commenced in 1916. Production of shale oil began in 1921 and oil shale was first used to generate electrical power in 1924. Shortly thereafter, systematic research into oil shale and its products began, and in 1938

17664-464: The world in book ownership, owning on average 218 books per house, and 35% of Estonians owning 350 books or more (as of 2018). Writings in Estonian became significant only in the 19th century with the spread of the ideas of the Age of Enlightenment , during the Estophile Enlightenment Period (1750–1840). Although Baltic Germans at large regarded the future of Estonians as being a fusion with themselves,

17802-858: Was closed in 1927 and Vanamõisa mine was closed in 1931. While in 1918 only 16 tonnes and in 1919 only 9,631 tonnes of oil shale were mined, in 1937 the annual output exceeded one million tonnes. In 1940, the annual output reached 1,891,674 tonnes. Initially, oil shale was used primarily in the cement industry, but also for firing locomotive furnaces and as a household fuel. The first major industrial consumers of oil shale were cement factories in Kunda and Aseri . By 1925, all locomotives in Estonia were powered by oil shale. Shale oil production started in Estonia in 1921 when Riigi Põlevkivitööstus built 14 experimental oil shale processing retorts in Kohtla-Järve . These vertical retorts used

17940-650: Was closed in 1947 and the Küttejõu underground mine was merged with the Kiviõli mine in 1951. The Ubja mine was closed in 1959. After construction of large oil shale-fired power stations, demand for oil shale increased and consequently new larger mines were constructed: the underground mines Viru (1965) and Estonia (1972) along with the open-pit mines Sirgala (1963), Narva (1970) and Oktoobri (1974; later named Aidu). Correspondingly, several exhausted smaller mines like Kukruse (1967), Käva (1972), No. 2 (1973), No. 4 (1975), and Kiviõli (1987) were closed. The Estonia Mine became

18078-527: Was established in 1922. By the end of the 1930s, it had become the largest shale oil producer in Estonia. Around the company's mine and oil plant, the Kiviõli settlement (now town) was formed in the same way as the Küttejõu settlement (now district of Kiviõli) formed around the mine owned by Eesti Küttejõud. In 1924, the British investor-owned Estonian Oil Development Syndicate Ltd. (later Vanamõisa Oilfields Ltd.) purchased an open-pit mine in Vanamõisa and opened

18216-477: Was formally compulsory, in practice, the teaching and learning of Estonian by Russian-speakers was often considered unnecessary by the Soviet authorities. In 1991, with the restoration of Estonia's independence , Estonian went back to being the only official language in Estonia. Since 2004, when Estonia joined the European Union, Estonian is also one of the (now 24) official languages of the EU . The return of former Soviet immigrants to their countries of origin at

18354-512: Was founded in May 1988. Its chairman, forestry scientist Professor Toomas Frey , was Minister of the Environment from 1990 to 1991. The first anti-communist Estonian Green Party ( Eesti Roheline Partei ) was founded on 19 August 1989. A rival Green Party ( Eesti Roheline Erakond ), under the leadership of former communist Vello Pohla, was founded in May 1990. In 1992, the two parties merged and

18492-504: Was generated from oil shale gas, which is a by-product of the shale oil generation. The share of oil shale in Estonia's electricity generation has decreased significantly over the last decade, and it is set to decrease even more due to the European Union's climate policy as well as the country's recognition of the environmental impact of oil shale-fired power stations and need to diversify the national energy balance. According to

18630-797: Was presented to the Emperor Nicholas II on 3 January 1917. On 13 February 1917, the Council of Ministers of Russia allocated 1.2 million roubles to purchase land and start mining activities. After the February Revolution , the Russian Provisional Government appointed a special commissioner for oil shale purchasing and stockpiling who began preliminary work for the digging of an oil shale mine at Pavandu, with full-scale construction carried out by about 500 workers, including war prisoners, in

18768-454: Was the predecessor of Viru Keemia Grupp , one of the current shale oil producers in Estonia. It took over the existing Pavandu open-pit mine, and opened new mines at Vanamõisa (1919), Kukruse (1920), and Käva (1924). Also, several private investors, including investors from abroad, initiated oil shale industries in Estonia by opening mines at Kiviõli (1922), Küttejõu (1925), Ubja (1926), Viivikonna (1936), and Kohtla (1937). Pavandu mine

18906-441: Was to win at least five Riigikogu seats in the upcoming elections and to form a Greens parliamentary caucus. The party's main programmes were to protect Estonia's forests, sea and other resources; to combat climate change, and to promote direct democracy. Economically, the party supported innovation and conservative fiscal policies. In the 2007 Estonian parliamentary election, the Estonian Greens received 39,265 votes (7.1 per cent of

19044-773: Was used for construction of the first Soviet atomic bomb ; however, this information is not confirmed by the archive materials. An oil shale research institute (now a department within Tallinn University of Technology ) was founded at Kohtla-Järve in 1958. Preliminary research into oil shale-based chemical production began the same year, exploring the potential for the use of oil shale in bitumen , synthetic construction materials, detergents , synthetic leathers , synthetic fibres , plastics , paints , soaps , glues , and pesticides . Between 1959 and 1985, 5.275 billion cubic metres (186.3 × 10 ^  cu ft) of mineral wool were produced from oil shale coke ,

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