Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, the President of Iceland, made a convincing case that even small countries can play a vital role in transforming the energy future of the world.
“We are sitting, working and sleeping on top of a huge fireball. We can harness the energy inside the Earth.”
In his address to the World Future Energy Summit, Grimsson gave a short history of Iceland’s storied rise to becoming the global vanguard in clean and renewable energy.
According to Grimsson, the people of Iceland were considered “the poor kids of Western Europe” after the second World War, as the majority of their energy came from imported gas and oil. However, the people of Iceland slowly transformed from being wholly dependent on imported hydrocarbons, to generating 99 percent of their heat and electricity from their country’s vast geothermal and hydroelectric resources.
To this, Grimsson added:
“Iceland is proof that within a lifetime of one generation a country can change their energy system. I don’t accept that we are so special that only we can do it.”
To prove his point, GrÃmsson announced that his country was cooperating with the government of Djibouti to harness the geothermal potential of East Africa. Grimsson believes that Djibouti can begin to move from an oil economy to geothermal and hydroelectric energy, just as Iceland did many years ago.
However, Grimsson felt it unwise to couch the debate at hand in terms of ‘climate change’ when, to him, the real issue was the future of energy.
“Without a fundamental transformation in energy systems in the world, we cannot prevent disastrous consequences within our own generation, let alone our children and grandchildren.”
Coming from a country where the effects of climate change can be readily seen in melting glaciers and quickening ice floes, Grimsson says that he is encouraged by fundamental changes in global opinion on future energy.
Using the successes of Reykjavik Energy Invest as an example, Grimsson lauded MASDAR’s initiative to build up future energy training centers at universities around the world.
In conclusion, Grimsson noted that he was further encouraged by advancements in geothermal technology, such as deep drilling techniques, low-temperature enhancements and the prospect of exploring the bottom of the ocean for untapped geothermal energy sources.
