Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.10.2009, Blaðsíða 6

Late-night Laugavegur revellers may be
forgiven for walking in ignorance past
the two green parking spots located
near the intersection of Ingólfsstræti.
Designated as an electric car refilling
station, the set-up is, for the most part,
symbolic—on a recent visit, neither
of the cars parked in the spots were
hybrids (much less electric) and the
charging post had been peppered with
graffiti. But for energy professionals,
this little corner on the drunkest street
in Reykjavík is the tip of the iceberg:
the first sign of a nationwide reform.
As politicians, environmental
organisations and private investors are
keen to share, and there’s a long list of
reasons why Iceland is one of the best
suited locations for the first national
alternative-energy transportation
network. That’s fine and dandy, but
the pressing questions of when, what,
and how a transportation revolution
will take place are still itching to be
addressed.
YOuR MERCEDES wILL BE
POwERED BY MY GAS
The 3rd Annual Driving Sustainability
Conference, which wrapped up a few
weeks ago in Reykjavík, attempts to
address the subject both in Iceland
and abroad. Roughly 200 delegates, 20
nations and dozens of organisations
including representatives of
environmental organisations,
engineering firms, ministries of
industry and heads of state gathered to
discuss the topic.
One of the primary conclusions
of this and the last two conferences is
that the future will be a multi-energy
society, conference co-founder Teitur
Þorkelsson told me over coffee.
“All different sources of energy and
fuels will be used, depending on where
you are,” Þorkelsson said. “I’m not a
believer in monotheism.”
For Iceland in particular,
Þorkelsson is a believer in biogas
as an inexpensive and immediate
option. The island already produces a
considerable amount of biogas from
waste material—enough to power
2.500 to 3.000 cars, he estimates. It’s
a surprising figure when you consider
there are only about 120 biogas
equipped vehicles in Iceland today. The
unused majority of biogas is wastefully
burned up in flares.
The situation is different in Sweden
for example, where biogas is harnessed
from sewage, sludge, landfills, and
industrial refuse, Þorkelsson says: “You
solve two problems at once: you get rid
of waste in an environmentally sound
manner, and you make domestically
produced fuel.”
“There’s been a growing hype
about electric cars too,” Þorkelsson
adds with some hesitation. The
problem is that for the next five to
seven years, electric cars will continue
to be expensive, Þorkelsson estimates.
Secondly, the Icelandic government,
which has generally supported the
transformation, has lagged behind
on providing the sort of incentives
necessary to create a viable business
platform. Unlike biogas vehicles,
electric cars in Iceland are still
susceptible to the VAT, or the Value
Added Tax. Short-term tax breaks,
which the Icelandic government
approves yearly, don’t foster a business
environment that attracts long term
investment.
Furthermore, Iceland hasn’t
offered the consumer perks other
Nordic countries have in order to get
drivers out of their gas-guzzlers. For
instance, Norway lifted the VAT and
offers electric car owners free use of
bus lanes and electricity. This spring
the Norwegian Socialist Left Party
even floated the idea of a ban on fossil-
fuel vehicles as soon as 2015. That kind
of proactive approach has put 3,000
electric cars on Norwegian roads.
Whether biogas or electric, any
kind of transportation revolution is still
at least a few years away Þorkelsson
argues:
“The standard number for
exchanging the fleet takes about ten
years. So from 2022 to 2030 at least
half, and by 2030 possibly a majority,
of our cars will be running on electric
or biogas….Realistically, we will not see
any significant electric car purchases
in Iceland for the next two years.”
I’M NOT AFRAID OF ThE BuSES
That just won’t do for Gísli Gíslason
of Northern Lights Energy (NLE), an
investment company built around
the goal of transforming Iceland
into an electric, and electric only,
transportation network in a matter
of years, not decades. With charging
stations slated for instalment as early
as next year, NLE hopes to have 50.000
electric cars on Icelandic roads by
2012—though they admit they’d be
satisfied with 20.000.
To reach Gíslason’s even more
modest estimate, Iceland would need
to buy 19.989 electric cars in the next
three years, since today there are only
11—with the 11th being Gíslason’s
own. In other words, Gísli Gíslason,
who today owns just over 9% of all
electric cars in Iceland, only wants to
own .005% and he wants Icelanders to
help.
Big numbers don’t scare Gíslason
or the investors he claims to have lined
up because, he argues, going electric
isn’t part of a multi-energy solution for
Iceland; it’s the only solution.
Iceland has more than the required
50 megawatts of electricity it would take
to transform the network. Secondly,
NLE believes that the complicated
engines found in gasoline and biofuel
cars—with over a thousand moving
parts—will inevitably be replaced
by the simplicity of electric engines
(with only four moving parts). Lastly,
Gíslason and his managing director,
Sturla Sighvatsson, argue that despite
the economic collapse, there’s never
been a better time to revolutionise:
there’s a surge of talented but
unemployed engineers and the drastic
drop-off in car sales since 2007 will
translate into a fleet that needs renewal
by 2011 or 2012.
But even though NLE’s goals
are national, the company will work
independent of the government.
“There’s been a lack of leadership
within the Icelandic government,”
Sighvatsson said. “We’re making a
decision for the government.”
For example, since Iceland lacks any
kind of comprehensive regulations for
taxing electricity meant for vehicles,
NLE plans to install GPS units and
onboard computers in all cars sold.
This will enable NLE to track not
only what roads the driver takes, but
how much and from where the car is
being charged. Once the government
wakes up to the energy revolution, the
argument follows, they’ll be free to tap
into a pre-established data base for tax
purposes.
However lucrative leading the
government with a carrot and stick
might be, it doesn’t always sound very
scrupulous: One of NLE’s immediate
projects is to import 10 city buses for
the Reykjavík system even though
they’ve yet to sign a contract with the
city itself. I asked Gíslason if he was
nervous about the purchase.
“I’m not afraid of the buses” he
responded with a smile. “If the city
of Reykjavík doesn’t want [to buy] the
buses, they will never be able to say that
they want to go green again.”
“It’ll be in the papers,” the
managing director added, grinning
my way.
Article | Transport
6
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 16 — 2009
Steering Revolution
The Impending Battle Over Space in Your Garage
ICELAND IS AN ISLAND, STuPID
Which translates into an isolated
transportation system with a quantifiable
number of vehicles, somewhere in
the 220,000-240,000 range. Unlike
in, for example, Luxemburg, where a
system overhaul would have to include
neighboring communities, Iceland can
transform its system independently.
AIN’T NOBODY DOPE AS ME, I’M
juST SO FRESh AND CLEAN
Iceland is already a world leader in green
energy production and consumption:
90% of homes are heated by geothermal
energy; 80% of the country’s energy
comes from hydropower stations; and
75% to 80% of the technically and
environmentally feasible reserves of
hydro- and geothermal energy reserves
have yet to be tapped for heavy industry.
Yet.
ICELANDERS LIkE TO GET COzY
Consider the fact that as of January 1,
2009, roughly 320,000 people live in
Iceland. Nearly 170,000 of them live
in the Reykjavík metropolitan area
and 120,000 live in the city proper.
Seventy-five percent of this population
lives within 50 km of two hypothetical
alternative energy refueling stations.
ENERGY REvOLuTION? NO ThING
BuT A ChICkEN wING
Iceland has already undergone one
energy revolution and is well-equipped
to do so again. In the 1920s and 30s, a
majority of Iceland’s energy demands
were met by imported coal and oil – an
unsustainable system that rendered the
island dependent. The government-
backed energy transformation that
successfully weaned the island off
imported energy was encouraged, and
highlighted, by the oil crisis of the 70s.
MIChAEL zELENkO
Why
Iceland?