Given their abundance of wind, water, and geothermal energy sources, places like Hawaii and Japan should be part of the next OPEC.
Iceland, however, is taking the lead.
Iceland sits atop a geological oddity, the Atlantic Rift Zone, from which the European and North American continents continue to spread outward. It has volcanoes, geysers, and tons of hot springs.
Olafur Grimsson, the country’s President, is working to exploit this energy. While the country’s Constitution offers him little power, he is using the equivalent of the "bully pulpit" to push for extensive geothermal projects.
Grimsson told Time Magazine that when he was a child the sky around Reykjavik was coal-black, and it was his job to get coal for the family. Now the country is producing enough geothermal energy to talk about running an aluminum smelter on it. He has endorsed an experiment in which carbon dioxide-laden water is being pushed into rock, which would pull the CO2 out of it.
Grimsson has real interest in hydrogen-powered cars and admitted he
once took one out over the local speed limit. He has been meeting with
American political leaders on the idea of placing an energy research center on a former U.S. Navy base.
Iceland’s stores of geothermal energy are relatively close to the
surface, simple to tap, but the country is also working on technology
to tap deeper sites. Given political pressures on Grimsson to keep the
country pristine, you’re not going to see this done in a way
environmentalists would object to.
Wind, water, steam, the Earth, and solar energy are all waiting for
investment. All can be used to create hydrogen from water to fuel cars
and power plants, to act as a store of energy in the way natural gas
does now. When that era arrives, and it’s coming fast, people like
Olafur Grimsson will be sheikhs.
