Iceland review - 2007, Qupperneq 9

ICELAND REVIEW 7
WATCH THIS SPACE
Industrialists, politicians and ecologists alike are falling all over themselves these
days for green gold: clean, renewable energy. From its perch at the top of the
world Iceland has already begun to cash in on the green energy craze, having
built up a century of knowledge in harnessing the only energy resources avail-
a ble to the island: geothermal and hydroelectric power. As the looming cataclysm
of climate change approaches, Iceland holds all the shotgun shells, and it’s going
to charge through the nose for the goods.

Enter President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson: testifying before the US Senate Com-
mittee on Energy and Natural Resources, powwowing with Microsoft tycoon
Bill Gates about putting Iceland’s surplus energy towards server farms instead of
aluminum smelters, accepting a seat on India’s Council for Sustainable Development,
calling for geothermal development at a meeting with the provincial government of
Shaanxi, China. Iceland’s head of state has hung up his diplomatic frock and
donned the flashy robes of PR flack as he globetrots from continent to continent
peddling Iceland’s newest snake oil: green know-how. And the fish are biting.
American investment bank Goldman Sachs is expected to finalize its deal to buy
an 8.5 percent stake in the Icelandic energy company Geysir Green along with
Time Warner Executive VP Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson, an Icelander.
However, as the money rolls in, the controversies have commenced. The former
mayor of Reykjavík has already lost his office amidst implications of a conspiracy
involving the city energy utility and Geysir Green, ending in a secret coup to take
over the city council (see Coup d’Reykjavík on p.13). But despite these upsets the
country is still gung-ho for green technologies like hydrogen-powered buses,
methane-fueled cars, and the science of carbon sequestration. Whether green
know-how is a flash in the pan or Iceland’s newest staple crop, the country is
sitting pretty as the world warms to green energy. JM
ENERGY, the Color of Money
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