Reykjavík Grapevine - 03.06.2016, Síða 12

This is not to say, of course, that
geothermal energy is just as polluting
and unsustainable as, say, coal or oil.
Clearly, geothermal energy is cleaner,
safer and more sustainable than fos-
sil fuels by a long shot. But it may be
time to consider bringing even cleaner
and more sustainable energy sources
into the mix. Wind power has shown
considerable promise, and anyone who
has spent as much as a day in Iceland
can probably attest to the abundance of
wind in this country. A few windmills
have already been raised, and they have
yielded some promising results.
Geothermal energy may always have
a home on our power grid, but we may
want to think about how much we lean
on it, as we try to broaden our available
energy source options to include even
more sustainable and cleaner models,
as countries elsewhere have with re-
markable success. Our green reputa-
tion is still something we need to live
up to.
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 7 — 2016
12
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GullfossGeysi
r
These past couple
weeks have been a
whirlwind of events,
not least of which was
the deportation of Eze Okafor, an asy-
lum seeker from Nigeria fleeing Boko
Haram, who have already murdered
his brother and have been after him
next. Iceland regularly deports almost
everyone who applies for asylum here,
but what makes this case special is
that the Immigration Appeals Board—
the supposed higher power over the
Directorate of Immigration—had al-
ready ruled he should not be deported.
The Directorate subsequently ignored
the Board, arrested him, and put him
on a plane for Sweden the next day.
He’s in Sweden still, but may soon be
deported back to almost certain death
in Nigeria. Not exactly the progressive,
welcoming Iceland you’ve read about,
is it?
Readers may recall the slew of tour-
ists pooping outdoors stories we ran
last year. For the record, this is not
because tourists particularly enjoy-
ing relieving themselves in the open
air. The actual reason is because even
some of Iceland’s most heavily traf-
ficked sites of natural wonder still lack
basic toilet facilities. To remedy this,
tourism industry workers have been
pleading with the government to fund
some portable toilets to be placed all
over the country. Even though it seems
as though there’s a general consensus
in Parliament that these toilets need
to be set up, not even a budget for the
project has been established. As such,
we advise anyone looking to get out
into the countryside to be discreet
if nature calls, and try to bury your
leavings if you can with. For now, any-
way—still a long way to Election Day,
on June 25.
NEWS IN
BRIEF
Before we started jailing bankers, Ice-
land’s strongest memetic power was in
our energy grid. Our energy consump-
tion may be proportionately higher
than that of a lot of countries, but it’s
what generates our power that gained
us an international reputation as a
“green” country: hydro- and geother-
mal power. Our geothermal power,
which accounts for about 25% of the
grid, has been a particular source of fas-
cination for people the world over as a
clever source of energy that is both clean
and renewable. As with a lot of memes
about Iceland, it’s not entirely true, and
new research has shown it may in fact be
hazardous to your health.
This research, only recently made
public, shows that people living close
to a geothermal plant “have higher in-
cidence of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma,
breast cancer, prostate cancer, and
kidney cancers than others. These
populations are exposed to chronic
low-level ground gas emissions and
various pollutants from geothermal
water.” The research further concludes
that “as the dose-response relation-
ships were positive between incidence
of cancers and duration of residence,
it is now more urgent than before to
investigate the chemical and physical
content of the geothermal water and of
the ambient air of the areas to detect
recognized or new carcinogens.”
Within 24 hours, the backlash
against these findings had begun. Per-
haps unsurprisingly, representatives
of these geothermal plants have dis-
missed the research as inaccurate. But
none of this is new—as the research
points out, this latest data is consis-
tent with previous findings.
Geothermal energy also has other
problems, in that its emissions can
be highly polluting, and even the hot
water that comes out of the ground
can contain chemicals such as mer-
cury, arsenic and boron. This can be
stemmed to a large extent by pump-
ing the steam back into the ground for
further recycling and filtration, but
the fact that these geothermal areas
are, by their very nature, geologically
active, means that one strong earth-
quake can damage these piping sys-
tems, letting pollutants leach into the
groundwater and potentially affecting
plants, animals and the humans that
drink it. And it should go without say-
ing that geothermal energy is not an
unlimited source. It is finite—a single
source can last anywhere from a few
centuries to a few decades. But again,
this is nothing new. When I reported
on it five years ago it wasn’t new.
Still Aint
Easy Being Green
Words PAUL FONTAINE
Photo SARAH PEPIN
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