ANOMALOUSLY HIGH PER
CAPITA ELECTRICITY
CONSUMPTION IN ICELAND
GINA QUAN
PHYSICS H190 SPRING 2012
03/21/12
ANOMALOUSLY HIGH PER CAPITA
ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION IN ICELAND
• Introduction to Iceland
• History
• Energy Produced
• Geothermal
• Hydroelectric
• Other
• Consumption
• Future
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What is Iceland?
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WHAT IS ICELAND?
• Population: 320,000
• 60% reside in the
capital city,
Reykjavik
• 100,000 sq km
• High standard of
living
• Terrain
• Tectonically active
• Mid-Atlantic ridge
• Volcanic activity
• Glaciers and rivers
4
WHAT IS ICELAND?
• Isolated
• Motivation to be
self-sustaining
• What’s in
Iceland?
• Geysers, Hot
springs
• Aurora Borealis
• Bjork
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ANOMALOUSLY HIGH PER CAPITA
ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION IN ICELAND
• Introduction to Iceland
• History
• Energy Produced
• Geothermal
• Hydroelectric
• Other
• Consumption
• Future
6
HISTORY OF ENERGY
• Hydro dams in the early 20th c.
• Government encouraged
electric stoves
• Geothermal space heating
• Women used to bake “hot
spring bread” (hverabrauth)
• First used in homes- early 20th
century swimming pools
• Industry growth  growth in
hydroelectric and geothermal
power
• 1970’s movement toward
replacing oil
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ANOMALOUSLY HIGH PER CAPITA
ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION IN ICELAND
• Introduction to Iceland
• History
• Energy Produced
• Hydroelectric
• Geothermal
• Other
• Consumption
• Future
8
HYDROELECTRIC POWER
• Accounts for 80% of
electricity produced
• Rivers, waterfalls 
dams
• Criticism for
environmental
consequences
• Mostly near aluminum
smelters (more on that
later)
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ANOMALOUSLY HIGH PER CAPITA
ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION IN ICELAND
• Introduction to Iceland
• History
• Energy Produced
• Hydroelectric
• Geothermal
• Other
• Consumption
• Future
10
GEOTHERMAL POWER
• ~25% of energy produced
in Iceland
• Heats 90% of homes in
Iceland
• How?
• 1. Heat from Earth heats
water under crust
• 2. Iceland drills boreholes
• 3. Hot water
• 4. Profit!!!
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GEOTHERMAL POWER
• Blue Lagoon (Bláa lónið)
• One of Iceland’s most visited
attractions
• 6 million liters of water
• Water from geothermal
plant waste
• Rich in sulphur, silica
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GEOTHERMAL POWER
• “Sustainable”- heat
removed is small
compared to total heat in
Earth
• Precipitation replenishes
water
• 5 major geothermal plants
• 4 TWh/yr but could grow
to up to 30 TWh/year
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ANOMALOUSLY HIGH PER CAPITA
ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION IN ICELAND
• Introduction to Iceland
• History
• Energy Produced
• Hydroelectric
• Geothermal
• Other
• Consumption
• Future
14
OTHER ENERGY SOURCES
• Oil
• Roughly 20% of energy
consumption
• Transportation, fishing
• Coal
• Shift toward renewable
resources- 1960’s
• Plans to be completely
renewable by 2050
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ANOMALOUSLY HIGH PER CAPITA
ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION IN ICELAND
• Introduction to Iceland
• History
• Energy Produced
• Hydroelectric
• Geothermal
• Other
• Consumption
• Future
16
CONSUMPTION OF ELECTRICITY
• 100% of electricity renewable
• Provides itself 70% of primary
energy
• More than any other country
• Virtually all is consumed by
residents
• ~5.9 kW per person= 16.5
million MWh/year
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COST OF ELECTRICITY IN ICELAND
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Why the high electricity
consumption per capita?
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MANUFACTURING
• Aluminum smelters
• Three plants
• 1969- Rio Tinto Alcan (CN)
• Intially, 33k metric tons/year
• 1998- Century Aluminum
Country (US)
• 2008- Alcoa (US)
• Built an entire hydroelectric
plant
• ~1000 tons of aluminum/day
• Cause of 2008 crash?
• Total- nearly 800k metric
tons/year!
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MANUFACTURING
• Bauxite imported from US,
Ireland and Australia
"We are based in the middle of
the North Atlantic Ocean. We
are not connected to the
mainland Europe grid," said
Bjarni Mar Gylfason, chief
economist for the Federation of
Icelandic Industries. "So we
export energy in the form of
aluminum."
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TOTAL ICELANDIC ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION
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MANUFACTURING
• Ferrosilicum plants
• Industrial productsRoughly 55% of Iceland’s
exports
• Other exports
• Fish
• Plants consume 5x
electricity of residents
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ENERGY CONSUMPTION- ALL
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ANOMALOUSLY HIGH PER CAPITA
ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION IN ICELAND
• Introduction to Iceland
• History
• Energy Produced
• Hydroelectric
• Geothermal
• Other
• Consumption
• Future
26
TO THE FUTURE
• Economic recession 
oil imports costly
• Projects to develop
renewable energy
• Harvest methane in
agriculture
• Hydrogen fuel for cars
and ships
• Deep drilling 
supercritical steam
• + more!
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TO THE FUTURE
• Current energy policy
• Conserving natural areas
• Reduce greenhouse gas
emissions
• Promote sustainable
development
• Diversify Economy
• Increase forestation
• Increase use of
environmentally friendly
vehicles
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CONCLUSION
• Iceland’s anomalously high electricity consumption
per capita is due to large scale manufacturing
• 80% of Iceland’s energy consumed is renewable
• The majority of energy produced is geothermal and
hydroelectric
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SOURCES
• Energy Development in Island Nations
<http://www.edinenergy.org/iceland.html>
• Energy Solutions In Iceland
<http://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/node/637>
• Gjelsvik, et. al. Energy Demand in Iceland. Statistics
Norway Research Department. May, 1995.
• Ministry for the Environment in Iceland. Iceland’s
Fifth National Communication on Climate Change.
2011.
• Wikipedia.org
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THANK YOU
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