Saving Iceland

According to a new Gallup poll 58% of the Icelandic nation want at least a five year stop to more heavy industry projects. People were asked if they wanted a five year “pause” in heavy industry projects. Just under 33% wanted no pause.

30% said they were strong supporters of a pause and 28% said they were quite in favour of a pause in any more heavy industry projects. Over 9% said they were neither for or against a pause. Under 19% said they were quite against such a pause and over 14% said the very much against such a pause. About 66% of women which answered said they supported a heavy industry pause for five years. Under 23% of women said they were against such a pause and 11% did not have an opinion.

Over 49% of males said they were in favour of a halt in heavy industry projects. 7% said they were neither for or against a pause and under 44% said they were against a pause in heavy inustry in the country.

A great majority of Left Green voters said they wanted a pause for the next five years, or 89%. 10% said they were against a pause and 1% had no opinion.

Over 74 Percent of the Social Democratic Alliance voters said they favour a pause in heavy industry, over 16% are against and 10% had no opinion.

Under 36% of Progresive Party voters said they favoured a pause but 44% would not favour it. 20% had no opinion. Over 38% of Independence Party voters said they favoured a halt to heavy industry for five years but under 52% want no pause. 10% of conservatives had no opinion.

Over 70% of those who vote other parties than the four above said they want a pause in heavy industry, 22% are against a pause and under 8% had no opinion.

Gallup telephoned 1230 people betwen the ages of 18 to 75 years old from 28 March – 2 April.

According to another new opinion poll from the polling organization Gallup Iceland, 61 percent of participants want further ideas about heavy industry to be voted on in a national election.

Two thirds of female participants would like a national election on heavy industry projects, but only half of male participants agreed to the idea, as ruv.is reports.

Seven to eight of every ten voters ages 18 to 35 would like to vote on further projects in heavy industry, but only five to six of every ten voters ages 35 to 75 believe the matter should be voted on.

Those who support the government are rather inclined to not wanting a national election, while those who support the opposition parties rather support the idea of a national election on heavy industry projects.

The poll was undertaken via telephone between 3-9 April. 940 individuals from all over the country between ages 18 and 75 were approached and 62 percent participated in the poll.

From Iceland Review
04/11/2007

The Confederation of Icelandic Employers (SA) presented the results of a new study yesterday.

According to Fréttabladid, the Institute for Academic Evaluation (Námsmatsstofnun) conducted the study for SA. In 2000, 2003 and 2006, 15-year-olds in Iceland were asked what kind of a job they expected to have at 30.

Interest in becoming specialists has increased steadily. Most participants in 2006, 58 percent, want to become professionals of some kind. Currently, only 14 percent of Icelanders work as professionals.

Only one percent of participants want to be office workers or manual laborers, none want to operate heavy machinery, two percent want to become farmers or fishermen, ten percent want to become craftsmen and 11 percent want to work in the service industry.

The teengers did not seem impressed by growth in heavy industry or increased smelter construction either. Only a handful is interested in working on construction sites or in factories.

Ragnar F. Ólafsson from the Institute for Academic Evaluation said he is not surprised or worried by the results. “I feel the results coincide with the emphasis on university education in society.”

“I believe we can be optimistic about the future. The girls delivered especially good results. In 2000, 22 percent of them wanted to work in service, but now they want to become professionals like dentists or doctors,” Ólafsson said.

See also: Alaska rattled by melting ice
 http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18…

Melting ice cap triggering earthquakes http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/20…

Iceland Review
04/10/2007

Oddur Sigurdsson, an Icelandic geologist who has undertaken studies of Iceland’s glaciers, said the nation’s glaciers are melting at record speed and may disappear completely after 200 years due to global warming.

“It is obvious judging by the data that we have that it is first and foremost caused by the heat in summer, which has increased considerably, especially in the last ten years,” Sigurdsson told RÚV.

Sigurdsson said he believed global warming is the gravest problem the human race has ever faced.

French geologist Jean-Marc Bouvier, who has undertaken studies of the Greenland ice cap, explained to RÚV that once the Arctic glaciers have disappeared the ocean surface will be nine meters higher than today and flood an area which is currently inhabited by one billion people.

Bouvier described this situation as a “meteorological time bomb” and said “the wick has already been lit.”

How was it that the saying goes… “Can’t see the forest for the trees”?
And exactly what sort of tree species would we be looking at… the manicured, sterile, non-indigenous corporate greenwash type? Maybe the time has come for a new botanical category? Perhaps a little research into ALCOA’s track record in forestry would be the place to start: http://www.wafa.org.au/articles/alcoa/in…
Read More

Iceland Review
04/07/2007

Geologists suggested on March 24 that a volcano park should be established on Reykjanes peninsula in southwest Iceland, which has the potential to become a major tourist attraction.

According to geologist Ásta Thorleifsdóttir, a volcano park on Reykjanes could be larger and have more variety than a similar volcano park in Hawaii, which attracts 3.3 million tourists every year, making USD billions in profits.

“We have much better access on Reykjanes. […] We have the international airport beside it and all these villages that can offer accommodation, entertainment, information, guidance, scientific knowledge and everything else that comes with it,” Thorleifsdóttir told RÚV.

Thorleifsdóttir has researched the volcano park in Hawaii, which is the largest of its kind and is considered the most noteworthy volcano park in the world.

Thorleifsdóttir said the geology of Reykjanes peninsula is unique. There is a lot of volcanic activity with numerous shield volcanoes, volcanic fissures, craters and hot springs.

“There are few places on earth like it. Only us who live close by don’t realize that if we want to show foreign tourists something unique we don’t have to go further than to Kleifarvatn and Krísuvík,” Thorleifsdóttir said.

Iceland Review
04/04/2007

Cisco may establish a server farm in Iceland

Representatives from Reykjavík Energy Company (OR) and the US network company Cisco have decided to investigate the possibility of establishing a server farm in Iceland run by environmentally friendly energy.

That was the conclusion of a recent meeting between the CEO of OR, Gudlaugur Thór Thórdarsson, and the representatives of Cisco in California. Morgunbladid reports.

“Cisco has ambitious goals on environmental issues. The company’s server farms in the UK are driven by environmentally friendly energy sources by 100 percent. That proportion is 20 percent by the company’s server farms in the US,” Thórdarson said.

“The company participates in projects through which it is obligated to set the goal higher on these issues,” Thórdarson explained.

Thórdarson said the meeting had been held to introduce to the representatives of Cisco what OR had to offer and to investigate whether the two companies could cooperate.

Cisco pointed out that distances could be a problem, but Thórdarson believed that challenge could be solved.

Thórdarson explained that running a server farm required a lot of energy, so a prerequisite for cooperation would be OR providing enough renewable energy for a reasonable price.

According to Thórdarsson, geothermal power and hydroelectric power is more reliable than solar energy and wind energy. But harnessing hydroelectric power could be problematic, Thórdarson said.

Iceland is a world leader in harnessing geothermal power, Thórdarson stated. “Our current position is very good and it is important for us to exploit the opportunities in this field.”

03/29/2007

Microsoft server farm in Iceland?

Microsoft in Iceland has received a written inquiry from Microsoft CEO Bill Gates to investigate the possibility of opening a server farm in Iceland, which running requires considerable amounts of energy.

“Discussions are going on and we have put a lot of work into this. We have received good response and nothing has worked against us so far,” the managing director of Microsoft in Iceland, Halldór Jörgensson, told Fréttabladid.

Jörgensson will probably present the progress of his investigation at a meeting at Microsoft’s headquarters next week. Representatives of Microsoft plan to come to Iceland in May and a decision will not be made until then.

Jörgenssen explained that it requires a lot of energy to run a server farm and since there is more energy in Iceland than in many other countries, it could prove to be a good location. However, Jörgenssen said he had not discussed prices with local energy companies.

The idea of a server farm in Iceland was first discussed between the President of Iceland Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson and Bill Gates at a conference in Scotland in January.

01/04/2007

The residents of Hafnarfjörður voted yesterday in a referendum over whether their Alcan aluminium smelter should be more than doubled in size, to make it Iceland’s largest aluminium smelter. Read More