Comments on: Bjork Thinks Going Green Will Help Solve Iceland’s Economic Troubles

By: fbr

fbr — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 15:46:36 +0000

In that case the local authorities are delusional. Before being socialized the Icelandic banks had over 40 billion Euros of debt, these debts now need to be paid by the Icelandic tax payers. In comparison the GDP of Iceland in 2007 was about 8.5 billion Euros and it is expected to fall by at least 10%. The failed banks accounted for about 75% of the value of the Icelandic stock exchange, which has now been wiped out. At the same time their currency is worthless and they are only able to pay to import food due to loans given by other nordic nations.

Iceland has historically been one of the poorest countries in Europe and only in the past decade or so rocketed on top of the lists of “wealthiest” countries. This was due to the banking bubble. Now that the bubble has burst, it seems inevitable that they will return to the bottom of the list unless they aggressively pursue new sources of income.

By: peoplemagazine lover

peoplemagazine lover — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 11:32:37 +0000

But some of them were quite optimistic; I was watching a documentary on the TV, and the local authorities were stating that fish could actually cover enough of their losses. On the other hand, a recent poll amongst youngsters show that 90% of them wish to leave the country and go to work somewhere else. This alone shows the future I think.

By: fbr

fbr — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 20:35:32 +0000

Key, I don’t think you understood the article. They are not moving away from geothermal energy. Instead they are doing the opposite. They want to harness more of the cheap geothermal and hydro energy and use it to smelt aluminum, an industry that requires huge amounts of energy.

The problem is that in order to harness the energy they need to build large plants and dams which, according to the article, would ruin the landscape.

Another problem is that their economy would become more dependent on the demand of aluminum. Although considering 70% of their exports are fish, increasing the amount of aluminum produced would actually diversify their economy.

At the end of the day, the Icelandic tax payers owe huge amounts of money following the collapse and socialization of their banking racket. The only way they can hope to ever repay it is by selling their energy (e.g., by smelting aluminum). There isn’t enough fish in the sea to cover their debts.

By: Key

Key — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 18:28:51 +0000

Iceland’s geothermal potential is beyond phenomenal.

I remember a special I saw not long ago about how people around the world were moving towards sustainable fuels. Iceland was hailed as revolutionary, standing on the brink of being completely self sufficient thanks to it’s geothermal wealth. That they’d move away from that shinning potential seems completely incomprehensible to me.