GINA QUAN PHYSICS H190 SPRING /21/12 ANOMALOUSLY HIGH PER CAPITA ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION IN ICELAND

Introduction to Iceland History Energy Produced Geothermal Hydroelectric Other Consumption Future 2

3 What is Iceland?

WHAT IS ICELAND? Population: 320,000 60% reside in the capital city, Reykjavik 100,000 sq km High standard of living Terrain Tectonically active Mid-Atlantic ridge Volcanic activity Glaciers and rivers 4

WHAT IS ICELAND? Isolated Motivation to be self-sustaining What’s in Iceland? Geysers, Hot springs Aurora Borealis Bjork 5

ANOMALOUSLY HIGH PER CAPITA ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION IN ICELAND Introduction to Iceland History Energy Produced Geothermal Hydroelectric Other Consumption Future 6

HISTORY OF ENERGY Hydro dams in the early 20 th c. Government encouraged electric stoves Geothermal space heating Women used to bake “hot spring bread” (hverabrauth) First used in homes- early 20 th century swimming pools Industry growth  growth in hydroelectric and geothermal power 1970’s movement toward replacing oil 7

ANOMALOUSLY HIGH PER CAPITA ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION IN ICELAND Introduction to Iceland History Energy Produced Hydroelectric Geothermal Other Consumption Future 8

HYDROELECTRIC POWER Accounts for 80% of electricity produced Rivers, waterfalls  dams Criticism for environmental consequences Mostly near aluminum smelters (more on that later) 9

ANOMALOUSLY HIGH PER CAPITA ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION IN ICELAND Introduction to Iceland History Energy Produced Hydroelectric Geothermal Other Consumption Future 10

GEOTHERMAL POWER ~25% of energy produced in Iceland Heats 90% of homes in Iceland How? 1. Heat from Earth heats water under crust 2. Iceland drills boreholes 3. Hot water 4. Profit!!! 11

GEOTHERMAL POWER Blue Lagoon (Bláa lónið) One of Iceland’s most visited attractions 6 million liters of water Water from geothermal plant waste Rich in sulphur, silica 12

GEOTHERMAL POWER “Sustainable”- heat removed is small compared to total heat in Earth Precipitation replenishes water 5 major geothermal plants 4 TWh/yr but could grow to up to 30 TWh/year 13

ANOMALOUSLY HIGH PER CAPITA ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION IN ICELAND Introduction to Iceland History Energy Produced Hydroelectric Geothermal Other Consumption Future 14

OTHER ENERGY SOURCES Oil Roughly 20% of energy consumption Transportation, fishing Coal Shift toward renewable resources- 1960’s Plans to be completely renewable by

ANOMALOUSLY HIGH PER CAPITA ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION IN ICELAND Introduction to Iceland History Energy Produced Hydroelectric Geothermal Other Consumption Future 16

CONSUMPTION OF ELECTRICITY 100% of electricity renewable Provides itself 70% of primary energy More than any other country Virtually all is consumed by residents ~5.9 kW per person= 16.5 million MWh/year 17

COST OF ELECTRICITY IN ICELAND 18 SO CHEAP

19 Why the high electricity consumption per capita?

MANUFACTURING Aluminum smelters Three plants Rio Tinto Alcan (CN) Intially, 33k metric tons/year Century Aluminum Country (US) Alcoa (US) Built an entire hydroelectric plant ~1000 tons of aluminum/day Cause of 2008 crash? Total- nearly 800k metric tons/year! 20

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MANUFACTURING Bauxite imported from US, Ireland and Australia "We are based in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean. We are not connected to the mainland Europe grid," said Bjarni Mar Gylfason, chief economist for the Federation of Icelandic Industries. "So we export energy in the form of aluminum." 22

23 TOTAL ICELANDIC ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION

MANUFACTURING Ferrosilicum plants Industrial products- Roughly 55% of Iceland’s exports Other exports Fish Plants consume 5x electricity of residents 24

25 ENERGY CONSUMPTION- ALL

ANOMALOUSLY HIGH PER CAPITA ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION IN ICELAND Introduction to Iceland History Energy Produced Hydroelectric Geothermal Other Consumption Future 26

TO THE FUTURE Economic recession  oil imports costly Projects to develop renewable energy Harvest methane in agriculture Hydrogen fuel for cars and ships Deep drilling  supercritical steam + more! 27

TO THE FUTURE Current energy policy Conserving natural areas Reduce greenhouse gas emissions Promote sustainable development Diversify Economy Increase forestation Increase use of environmentally friendly vehicles 28

CONCLUSION Iceland’s anomalously high electricity consumption per capita is due to large scale manufacturing 80% of Iceland’s energy consumed is renewable The majority of energy produced is geothermal and hydroelectric 29

SOURCES Energy Development in Island Nations Energy Solutions In Iceland Gjelsvik, et. al. Energy Demand in Iceland. Statistics Norway Research Department. May, Ministry for the Environment in Iceland. Iceland’s Fifth National Communication on Climate Change Wikipedia.org 30

31 THANK YOU