Climate Action 2016-2017

Image by Árni Sæberg.
COUNTRY PERSPECTIVES
Aerial view of an Icelandic geothermal power plant.
The history of Iceland, which spans close
to 1,200 years, can be presented in two
parallel and striking tales: one is a story of
energy usage, the other a story of fishing. Both
these narratives describe a development from
primitive exploitation to sustainable and highly
rewarding practices.
THE ICELANDIC ENERGY STORY
To start with energy: when Iceland was settled in
the 9th century it had considerable forests which
provided fuel for the population. Obviously wood
was needed for heating the primitive housing
in the rather chilly island, and it was needed for
the production of charcoal and, by extension, for
iron-working. Unfortunately the forests, which
never contained a lot of tall trees anyway, were
very vulnerable and Iceland lost practically
all its trees in less than 400 years. The loss of
trees, along with volcanic eruptions and climate
changes, caused some serious desertification as
the wind could erode the grasslands more freely
when the trees were gone. Ahead of us were
centuries of poverty when the population had
to squeeze what we could out of peat and other
low-grade combustibles.
The forests, in other words, had been
harvested without foresight. Without the
notion of sustainability, without planting trees
"Without the notion of
sustainability, without
planting trees to replace
those that were used,
the valuable forest asset
was destroyed."
to replace those that were used, the valuable
forest asset was destroyed.
Then, around 1900, fossil fuels triggered a
historical shift for us like so many others, and the
use of coal and oil in our growing fishing fleet made
possible the wonder of trawler fishing, with largescale
harvesting of our productive fishing grounds.
We also used fossil fuels to heat our houses,
of course. Fortunately, however, we also started
harnessing some of the hydropower resources
we had to produce electricity so we could light
up our streets and houses.
This all worked very well far into the 20th century
until oil prices started climbing dramatically in the
1970s. The oil crisis had a serious impact on our
national economy, and we realised that something
had to be done: we had to look at other sources
of energy to survive. Accordingly a large project
to produce electricity from geothermal steam was
started not far from the capital city, Reykjavik, and
under its auspices. This geothermal power plant
became a huge success and was soon followed by
other similar and more technically advanced power
plants in other regions.
At the present moment we are looking at the
option of adding wind turbines to our primary
energy mix; and we are also working hard to
reclaim some of the forests that we so sadly lost
in earlier centuries.
Hydropower and geothermal energy now
account for more than 99 per cent of our
electricity production. They are sustainable
and clean energy sources that we are proud to
present to visitors. Most of our houses are heated
by geothermal district heating systems.
FISHING: PROBLEMS OF SUCCESS
The other area of interest, in the case of Iceland,
is the management of our marine resources.
For the first thousand years, Iceland was to a
large extent a society dominated by farmers.
The people who went fishing at designated
harbours around the country were farm hands
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