Finding the balance by Carol Wilson

Views and Opinions on Green IT (Jul 22 2009)

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   One word that you hear repeatedly in any discussion of finding new energy sources is balance. Literally speaking, balance is a state of equilibrium, but in the context of the environment, it often means juggling multiple interests, priorities and forces to find a reasonable compromise. In most parts of the world, keeping things in balance where the environment is concerned means doing what can reasonably and affordably be done to conserve energy or shift energy usage to renewable sources.

   In Iceland, where geothermal energy, potentially an endlessly renewable source of energy, is abundant and cheap, there is another balancing act taking place. Iceland is trying to find the right economic balance. That’s an extraordinarily important task for an island nation that once depended too heavily on fishing, and, more recently, saw its banking industry grow so large that sudden failure destabilized the country’s entire economy.

   Now Iceland is considering whether its seemingly endless supply of renewable energy from geothermal and hydroelectric sources might be better put to use. The question is whether to continue building aluminum plants which could heavily tax geothermal resources in the southwestern part of Iceland.

   Iceland’s new environment minister, Svandís Svavarsdóttir, is pointing the way to a balanced future. Acknowledging environmentalists’ concerns about overtaxing geothermal and hydroelectric power sources, she also points to Iceland’s status among the top 10 aluminum producers on the planet – and the largest, per capita – as an indication this is one industry that doesn’t need to keep growing.

   It’s encouraging that, in an interview with the New York Times, Svavarsdottir specifically cited data centers as a new industry with great potential for Iceland. This is significant because of the type of job that data centers can bring – well-paying for an educated workforce, which Iceland has – but also because it acknowledges a future industry, with significant room for growth.  And, importantly, this consideration is being given years before Iceland faces any kind of immediate crisis where its renewable energy sources are concerned.  

   
   

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