环境生态学essay/research report/paper/case study/assignment代写
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The Guardian
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By Jessica Aldred
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First published on Tuesday 22 April 2008 19.57 AEST
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Iceland’s energy answer comes naturally
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Jessica Aldred visits Reykjavik to find out how Iceland is tapping into its renewable energy
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resources as it prepares for a low-carbon future
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The Svartsengi geothermal power plant by the Blue Lagoon in Iceland.
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Photograph: Paul A. Souders/Corbis
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For tourists relaxing in the hot springs of Iceland’s famous Blue Lagoon, just outside the capital
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Reykjavik, the issues of climate change and energy security are not likely to be occupying most
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bathers’ minds. But what many visitors may be surprised to know is that the hot water they are
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sitting in is part of a remarkable journey by one country from oil dependence to a world leader in
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harnessing renewable energy.
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Iceland’s stunning scenery, with its bare, lava-strewn flats, snow-capped mountain ranges, glaciers,
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volcanoes and hot springs, is due to its location on one of the earth’s major fault lines, the mid-
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Atlantic ridge. While this landscape is attracting an increasing number of tourists each year, the
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country’s geographical peculiarities also mean that Iceland is the only country in the world that can
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claim to obtain 100% of its electricity and heat from renewable sources.
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The glaciers and rivers of the interior of the country are harnessed to generate 80% of the country’s
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electricity needs through hydropower, while the geothermal fields provide up to 20% of the
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country’s electricity needs. These underground fields, which give tourists and locals their bathing
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pools, also provide Icelanders with an almost limitless and inexpensive supply of natural hot water.
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There is no national grid in Iceland – harnessing the energy comes via the remarkably simple
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method of sticking a drill in the ground near one of the country’s 600 hot spring areas, and using the
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steam that is released to turn the turbines and pump up water that is then piped to nearby
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settlements.
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Geothermal water is used to heat around 90% of Iceland’s homes, and keeps pavements and car
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parks snow-free in the winter. Hot water from the springs is cooled and pumped from boreholes
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that vary between 200 and 2,000m straight into the taps of nearby homes, negating the need for hot
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water heating. It’s also purified and cooled to provide cold drinking water.
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While the government believes that exploiting geothermal energy for space heating alone saves
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Iceland $100m (£50m) in imported fossil fuels each year, it also means less CO2 emissions. If the
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geothermal energy used for heating homes in a single year is equivalent to the heat obtained from
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the burning of 646,000 tonnes of oil, the government estimates that the total release of CO2 in the
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country is cut by nearly 40%.
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But the task remains to move the country’s remaining fossil fuel-dependent sectors to clean
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technology: Iceland’s fishing fleet, cars and buses, which run on oil and petrol, ironically make the
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country one of the highest per head greenhouse gas emitters in Europe. Research is underway on
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how to use geothermal electricity to split hydrogen from water, and then to use hydrogen fuel cells
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to power the country’s vehicles and fishing trawlers.
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In 20-30 years, if this is achieved, it would make Iceland self-sufficient in energy terms, and 100%
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powered by renewable energy.
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Energy by accident
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Geothermal energy in Iceland happened by accident. In 1907, a farmer in west Iceland took steam
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from a hot spring that ran below his farm through a concrete pipe and into his house several metres
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above. A few years later, another farmer became the first Icelander to use hot spring water for
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heating, and extensive distribution of hot water to heat homes began in the capital in 1930.
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Icelanders began to harness their natural powers into the 1940s, but was still getting 75% of it
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energy from coal until the oil crisis of the 1970s forced it to change its energy policy. With rising
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costs, the government moved its focus from oil to hydropower and geothermal heat. It put funding
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and resources into searching for new geothermal resource areas, and built new heating services and
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transmission pipelines from thermal fields into towns, villages and farms.
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“When the oil crisis receded in the 1980s all the interest other countries had shown in renewables
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disappeared and they fell back on their oil-reliant ways,” says Einar Karl Haraldsson, the chief
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political adviser to the Icelandic foreign ministry. “But we continued to make progress in
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renewable energy development and now Icelanders are going to reap the benefits.”
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The economic savings gained by switching from oil to geothermal energy – an estimated $8.2bn
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over 30 years – have contributed significantly to Iceland’s prosperity – transforming it from one of
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the poorest countries in the EEA to one of the most productive in the world in terms of GDP per
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capita and quality of life rankings.
Comprehension questions
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Look up a map of the world and find Iceland. Where in the world is Iceland located?
____________________________________________________2. Describe the geography and climate of Iceland.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________3. What two types of renewable energy sources does Iceland use?
____________________________________________________4. Explain how geothermal energy works
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________5. Explain how geothermal energy is used to heat homes in Reykjavik. Then, draw a diagram withlabels, of this process.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________Diagram
- Find three advantages of geothermal energy mentioned in the article.