Currently the world as a whole is
working on how to transition from exhaustible heat-generating fossil fuel use
to clean or renewable energy use. In this post I intend looking at Iceland who
was using fossil fuel as a source of energy generation and use, and is now
depending on clean energy, to even run industry. Iceland has depended on coal
and oil before, but it has moved on to dependence on renewable energy to
develop a clean energy economy.
To my mind Iceland qualifies to
be a prototype and a pilot project for the global transition.
Iceland gets all the electricity
it uses from domestic renewable energy sources. 75% of the electricity is
derived from hydropower and 25% from geothermal. Hydropower is power derived
from water. Geothermal are two words put together; geo relates to earth, rock,
soil, ground etc. and thermal is connected to heat. Geothermal is therefore
heat from the ground; heat or energy Iceland harnesses from the ground. Geothermal
energy is used in warming buildings through extensive distribution network.
100% of houses in Iceland benefit from this service. If you take the whole
world, Iceland is the largest producer of clean energy per person. So Iceland
produces more clean energy for each of her citizens than the United States does
for each of her citizens. Iceland produces wind energy too. Hydropower is used
to run industries. Hydropower is used in running aluminum smelting plants-
power intensive facilities. Indeed Iceland is the first country in the world to
run an economy supported by industries powered by clean energy. From 1970 to
2000 when Iceland switched from using fossil fuel to the use of geothermal
energy to produce heat, the country saved US8.2 billion, and lowered carbon
dioxide emissions by 37%. Insolation in Iceland is low. Iceland is also
developing clean energy from hydrogen.
You might be fidgeting to know
where this country is on planet Earth, a planet taken captive by global
warming. Iceland lies on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It is an island country lying
between the North Atlantic and Artic Ocean. The country lies between latitude
63⁰ and 68⁰N and longitude 25⁰ and 13⁰W. It covers an area
of 103,000 sq. km. (40,000 sq. mi.) with a population of 329,000. Iceland’s capital
is Reykjavik. It is a European country. Iceland experiences volcanic activities
and is geologically active. Iceland was
ranked as the 13th most developed nation in the world in 2013. Iceland
was ruled by Norway from 1262 to 1814, and thereafter Denmark. The country
became independent in 1918 and a republic in 1944. Iceland runs a social
welfare system.
How did Iceland become the
world’s most energy clean country? I will answer this question from the
following four perspectives:
NECESSITY
Up to the1970s Iceland was
regarded as a developing country by the UNDP, running an agro economy of
fishing and sheep farming, dependent on imported oil and coal. Iceland was then
one of the poorest countries in Europe. There was a move from oil-based heating
to geothermal starting from the 1970s. In the 1970s there were world oil crises
which partly necessitated the shift. The cost of imported fossil fuel also
necessitated the shift to domestically produced cheap clean energy. Because of
the oil crises of the 1970s most buildings switched to the district heating
system, and that resulted in the dramatic drop in emissions. Financial collapse
in Iceland in 2008 isolated Iceland. They refused to take advice from outside
to fix the financial crisis. This necessitated the dependence on internal
resources to fix the problem. Today Iceland runs clean energy economy- foremost
in the world.
NATURAL RESOURCES
Iceland lies on the Atlantic
Ridge and is geologically active. It has 200 volcanoes and 600 hot springs.
Iceland has over 20 high temperature steam fields of at least 150⁰C. Some of these
steam fields get to a temperature of 250⁰C.
From the steam fields Iceland harnesses geothermal energy to warm houses,
swimming pools etc. Iceland has many glacier rivers and waterfalls from which
they get their hydropower.
RESEARCH
A driving force behind Iceland’s
clean energy economy is research. Due to their social welfare system philosophy
of providing education for all, research into clean or renewable energy is
conducted in their higher institutions and other research institutions, with
international collaboration. The School
for Renewable Energy Science located in Akureyri, North Iceland offers MSc
programme in Renewable Energy Science. The programme is offered in partnership
with a number of leading technical universities in the world. In 2009 the
School offered the following areas of study: a) Geothermal Energy b) Fuel Cell
Systems and Hydrogen c) Biofuels and Bioenergy and d) Energy Systems and
Policies. Iceland School of Energy (ISE) located in Reykjavik offers studies in
MSc programme. Its area of study is Renewable Energy Engineering, Policy and
Science. ISE has as its focus: global environmental protection and sustainable
use of energy resources. University of Iceland, also located in Reykjavik, is
well known in the global scientific community for its research in renewable
energy. The National Energy Authority of Iceland is tasked to conduct energy
research and provide consulting services in connection with energy development
and energy usage. Other companies, both public and private, are doing extensive
research in the area of renewable energy.
DETERMINATION
Because of the oil crises of the
1970s and also because of the cost of oil and coal they import to meet their
energy needs, Iceland came to a crossroad, as it were, to make a decision to
either continue dependence on fossil fuel or turn to domestic renewable energy
resources. Iceland opted for the later, at a time when they were regarded as a
poor country in Europe. During the financial crisis in 2008 Iceland voted twice
against outside help to depend on itself. Today, Iceland is a successful clean
energy economy, a model for the world. Clean energy is used in the economy,
from the growing of vegetables to the smelting of aluminum (an energy intensive
venture).
Parting shot: you may say Iceland
is a small country. Yes Iceland is a small country, but the people of Iceland
put their mind to it and were determined to run an economy without polluting
the natural environment for the sake of posterity, and they made it. The people
of Iceland did intensive and extensive research and through the research, with
will and unity of purpose, harnessed clean energy from their natural resources to
grow a model clean energy economy. What of Kyoto Protocol, COP21, corporate
interest etc. which are rather weighing down the transition process,
practically speaking? Why is the world not going to the ant to learn of its
ways? Iceland has proved that heavy industries can run successfully on clean
energy. Aluminum smelting plants are running on energy sourced from renewable
energy resources in Iceland as already indicated. Of course some countries are
also doing well in the generation clean energy. Norway, Philippines and Costa
Rica are some examples. But the world at large needs to buck up, using Iceland
as a prototype and pilot project.
Reference:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_Iceland
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland
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