Comments on: Iceland to join EU’s carbon reduction program

By: alexoutside

alexoutside — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 21:00:34 +0000

But Alda, you were in favour of studded tyres a few weeks ago…http://icelandweatherreport.com/2005/11/skidding.html

By: Simon Brooke

Simon Brooke — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 15:00:52 +0000

I wouldn’t worry too much about the aluminium smelters, actually. The Icelandic aluminium smelters are powered by geothermal and hydro-electric; consequently they aren’t burning fossil fuel, as aluminium smelters elsewhere in the world have to do. So, per kilo of aluminium smelted, this is ‘clean’ aluminium (relatively) and represents a net saving of carbon for the world – provided that that aluminium would have been smelted somewhere in the world anyway.

This isn’t to defend the Kárahnjukar/Reyðarfjördur scheme, which doesn’t seem like a good deal for Icelanders and does involve the destruction of a great deal of wilderness; but relatively low-carbon aluminium is one of the genuinely good things that Iceland can positively contribute to the world’s economy, and is a good way of embodying and exporting Iceland’s relative wealth in renewable energy. It also provides some jobs, both in construction and in running the plants – real jobs based on something tangible, not just playing sophisticated mathematical games with imaginary money.

Of course, if the profits all go abroad to foreign owners and Iceland is left with an environment polluted with heavy metal wastes and other poisons, this isn’t necessarily a good thing for Iceland,

Meantime here in Scotland it’s -4 Celsius; I’ve just got back from cycling to the shops for my groceries (26Km round trip) and it’s a wee bit chilly out there.

We’ve burned around a tonne of firewood in this house in the past three weeks, which shows how cold it’s been – normally we don’t have the big stove lit until January; once again, if we were in the Reykjavik area we would be using geothermal. Wood burning may be carbon neutral – since it releases ‘current account’ carbon, rather than fossil carbon, and the carbon released will be absorbed by the trees we plant to replace the ones that are felled – but it also releases particulates and in urban areas would contribute to smog. Iceland really is rich – particularly in this post-Copenhagen world – in its access to carbon-neutral energy.

By: James

James — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:07:58 +0000

Alda – Well, the wording of the Council of the European Union’s press release is extremely precise. I’ve no idea about the Icelandic Ministry of the Environment news item, but it has lots of impressive letters like ð

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:19:36 +0000

@ Joerg December 16, 2009 at 9:41 am
‘As the aluminium industry is always very boastful about usage of aluminium in hightech products, they might have to resort to less glorious application in the future’

Sorry mate, demand for aluminium is growing; amongst other things it is increasingly substituting for steel in car bodies.

Landsvirkjun might have the right idea though in promoting the development of plants turning out solar silicon and using their power (and Iceland’s endless supply of bitterly cold winds) to run computer server farms. Have there been any developments on this front? Last year the BBC went to Keflavik to see the site of Verne Global’s proposed server farm but I’ve heard nothing since.

By: alda

alda — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:56:35 +0000

Thanks, all.

James – Major props for understanding the legalese! But that’s in conflict with what the Ministry reports on their website, then.

By: Paul H

Paul H — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:40:49 +0000

Smog? Ugh.
I guess it makes sense given the type of vehicles in Reykjavik and the density of the population as compared to the rest of Iceland.
It needs to be fixed, I wholeheartedly agree.

By: James

James — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:21:13 +0000

The Council of the European Union merely noted the Icelandic Ministry of the Environment’s request and invited the European Commission to recommend opening negotiations. Reaching actual agreements seems a long way away.

By: Nik

Nik — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:39:27 +0000

Up here in Eyjafjörður I finally put the studded tyres on the car about a month ago when we got the first real snow of the winter. I always hold off as long as possible because I don’t want to tear up the roads – they’re bad enough from everyone else tearing them up. Unfortunately the snow lasted a few days and then disappeared, leaving me to tear up the roads with the rest of them.

By: Petri Aho

Petri Aho — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:28:57 +0000

It’s just sad that in the end it’s always the regular people who end up paying the bill. The rich will still keep getting richer. Companies will just compensate extra costs with higher prices, lower salaries and job cuts to make sure their owners profits and managers bonuses won’t be affected by such menial things as saving the planet.

By: Joerg

Joerg — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 09:41:05 +0000

I have read, that many parts of the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner are made of carbon fibre instead of aluminium to reduce weight. As the aluminium industry is always very boastful about usage of aluminium in hightech products, they might have to resort to less glorious application in the future – soft drink cans and candy wrappers. Another reason to be careful about building new aluminium smelters, which are a main contributor to emissions of greenhouse gases, their time might be over sooner than expected.