Quote:
Originally Posted by ATDrake
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They have really cheap electricity because of the geothermal energy due to being located on the Mid-Atlantic ridge, which makes it more cost-efficient to process aluminum (a very energy-intensive process, apparently) there. Similarly, we had a town set up in BC during the 50s for pretty much the same reasons due to having cheap hydro.
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If memory serves me correctly, this aluminum plant uses all, or almost all, hydro. Another aspect of Iceland besides its volcanism (which I did not know beforehand, but it makes sense given its snow and ice) is that it has a huge amount of surface water in rivers, lakes, etc. Alcoa, or somebody, built a dam with a hydroelectric plant on one of those rivers and uses the electricity produced from it for their aluminum plant.
Speaking of environmentalists, radical environmentalists (I'm not against environmentalists--I consider myself an environmentalist, though not a radical one) howled about the construction of this dam, but lost.
One thing that I read in this article about geothermal energy was especially interesting to me. That is that
most homes in Iceland use geothermal energy for heat, because the volcanism is so extensive there. Of course, that energy is basically free. It would be nice not to have a heating bill . . . .
I think that the article was in a
National Geographic. Probably one several years old.