Grist video producer Jennifer Prediger visited Iceland recently, attending an environmental protest concert featuring Björk and Sigur Rós. Here's her report, in words and video.
In Iceland, the battle between power companies and conservationists is heating up. As the aluminum industry's plans to build dams and smelters move full steam ahead, Icelanders could well become the number one emitters of carbon dioxide per capita in the world. This possibility, in a land whose geothermal resources should make it a renewable energy haven, is the ultimate slap in the face to activists trying to keep it green.
Which is why the country's stars aligned recently for a free benefit concert to protest the smelting plans. "It is great that we have not managed to totally fuck up this country yet, and we are standing at a crossroad right now," said headliner Björk. "What we need more than anything is information. And that is my goal with this concert."
Together with the group Sigur Rós and author Andri Snær Magnason, Björk pulled off a concert attended by 10 percent of the country's population (that's 25,000 out of 250,000 people). The concert was timed to the release of the English translation of Magnason's Dreamland: A Self-Help Manual for a Frightened Nation.
"We came together and said something very big has to be done," Magnason told me. "There are 60 million people [in the world] that live on geothermal areas they could use both for heating and energy. That's like 10 percent of mankind. We need to go there with the knowledge, not make Iceland a colony of Alcoa. It's not a good idea."
Below the fold, video of the concert and of the country.
Annie Leonard misses the mark in her new video, “The Story of Cap-and-Trade”
‘Copenhagen Diagnosis’ offers a grim update to the IPCC’s climate science
Comments
View as Flat
Sean Casten Posted 8:21 am
11 Jul 2008
Don't get me wrong - I wouldn't want to have an aluminum plant in my backyard, and I get the NIMBY argument from Bjork as well. But I don't see the logic that says that this a bad idea on global warming grounds. After all, if the net result is that the plant gets built in an area with more carbon-intensive electricity, the net result will be an increase in CO2.
Permalink
Ron Steenblik Posted 11:18 am
11 Jul 2008
But there are technological solutions to that, through using an inert, non-carbon anode or coating it to make it more resistant to being consumed during the conversion process. One would assume that any new smelter would use one of these technologies.
These are only my personal opinions.
Permalink
Ron Steenblik Posted 11:48 am
11 Jul 2008
Iceland already has at least one aluminum smelter, located at the opposite end of the island from the planned new one. Here is an exerpt from a short article in the 5 May 2008 edition of IceNews on the industry's past GHG emissions, which fell by 22% despite a trebling of output:
Iceland's Ministry for the Environment recently released a report stating that greenhouse gas emissions from Iceland's aluminium smelters has decreased by 22 percent between 1990 and 2006.
Considering that Iceland's aluminium production increased from 90,000 tonnes to 270,000 tonnes during that time, the news is a major boon for the frequently embattled industry.
Alcan Iceland representative Gudrun Thora Magnusdottir laments that her industry is often demonised without justification on environmental issues: "we consider ourselves leading in many fields and we can be a role model for other companies," she says.
By the way, I noticed a lot of equipment constructed with aluminum up on that stage.
These are only my personal opinions.
Permalink
Joffan Posted 9:36 am
12 Jul 2008
Which is it?
Permalink
Krater Posted 1:03 am
04 Aug 2008
Of course it would all be even worse if these smelters were coal-powered. However one has to keep in mind that these smelters are not replacing older more polluting ones but are being built to increase total production.
Alu demand is especially going up because of high military expenditure (as high as cold war levels, alu is used in missiles, explosives, jets, armoured vehicles) and demand increase in China. Its production is around 20x more energy intensive than steel - it even takes more energy to recycle an x volume of aluminium than an x volume of steel.
Permalink