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ANOMALOUSLY HIGH PER CAPITA ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION IN

ICELAND 

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ANOMALOUSLY HIGH PER CAPITA ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION IN ICELAND 

• Introduction to Iceland• History• Energy Produced• Geothermal• Hydroelectric• Other

• Consumption• Future

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What is Iceland?

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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

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WHAT IS ICELAND?

• Isolated • Motivation to be

self-sustaining

• What’s in Iceland?• Geysers, Hot

springs• Aurora Borealis• Bjork

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ANOMALOUSLY HIGH PER CAPITA ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION IN ICELAND 

• Introduction to Iceland• History• Energy Produced• Geothermal• Hydroelectric• Other

• Consumption• Future

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HISTORY OF ENERGY

• Hydro dams in the early 20th c.• Government encouraged electric

stoves

• Geothermal space heating• Women used to bake “hot spring

bread” (hverabrauth)• First used in homes- early 20th

century swimming pools

• Industry growth growth in hydroelectric and geothermal power

• 1970’s movement toward replacing oil

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ANOMALOUSLY HIGH PER CAPITA ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION IN ICELAND 

• Introduction to Iceland• History• Energy Produced• Hydroelectric• Geothermal• Other

• Consumption• Future

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HYDROELECTRIC POWER

• Accounts for 80% of electricity produced• Rivers, waterfalls

dams• Criticism for

environmental consequences• Mostly near aluminum

smelters (more on that later)

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ANOMALOUSLY HIGH PER CAPITA ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION IN ICELAND 

• Introduction to Iceland• History• Energy Produced• Hydroelectric• Geothermal• Other

• Consumption• Future

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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!!!

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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

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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

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ANOMALOUSLY HIGH PER CAPITA ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION IN ICELAND 

• Introduction to Iceland• History• Energy Produced• Hydroelectric• Geothermal• Other

• Consumption• Future

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OTHER ENERGY SOURCES

• Oil• Roughly 20% of energy

consumption• Transportation, fishing

• Coal• Shift toward renewable

resources- 1960’s• Plans to be completely

renewable by 2050

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ANOMALOUSLY HIGH PER CAPITA ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION IN ICELAND 

• Introduction to Iceland• History• Energy Produced• Hydroelectric• Geothermal• Other

• Consumption• Future

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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

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COST OF ELECTRICITY IN ICELAND

SO CHEAP

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Why the high electricity consumption per capita?

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MANUFACTURING

• Aluminum smelters• Three plants• 1969- Rio Tinto Alcan (CN)• Intially, 33k metric tons/year

• 1998- Century Aluminum Country (US)

• 2008- Alcoa (US)• Built an entire hydroelectric

plant• ~1000 tons of aluminum/day• Cause of 2008 crash?

• Total- nearly 800k metric tons/year!

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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."

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TOTAL ICELANDIC ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION

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MANUFACTURING

• Ferrosilicum plants• Industrial products-

Roughly 55% of Iceland’s exports• Other exports• Fish

• Plants consume 5x electricity of residents

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ENERGY CONSUMPTION- ALL

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ANOMALOUSLY HIGH PER CAPITA ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION IN ICELAND 

• Introduction to Iceland• History• Energy Produced• Hydroelectric• Geothermal• Other

• Consumption• Future

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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!

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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

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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

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SOURCES

• Energy Development in Island Nations <http://www.edinenergy.org/iceland.html>• Energy Solutions In Iceland <http://

www.thesolutionsjournal.com/node/637>• Gjelsvik, et. al. Energy Demand in Iceland.

Statistics Norway Research Department. May, 1995.• Ministry for the Environment in Iceland. Iceland’s

Fifth National Communication on Climate Change. 2011.• Wikipedia.org

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THANK YOU