Figuring out the need for energy
Let’s jump back to the Sagas of Iceland − stories handed down through hundreds of years, some seem to be folklore, others a way of explaining the natural world to people living on the land.
But our twist will be the Saga of Energy and how the fortunate folks in this very different world have utilized this important resource. So, when the earth was forming, 419.2 to 358.9 million years ago, the land masses of Laurentia (most of the North American mass) and Baltica (mostly eastern Europe) joined other microcontinents to form Euramerica.
During the Permian period, 298.9 to 252.2 million years ago, Gondwana, the paleocontinent that would eventually form South America, India, Africa, Australia and Antarctica, collided with and joined Euramerica to form what we know as Pangea.
This enormous land mass would continue to move and shift because of the heat and energy of the earth’s core. As land masses then split and other plates shift and buckle, mountains are formed, and the land masses that we know today develop into the continents that we know and love!
If you have ever visited Yellowstone National Park, you know that the park is a caldera, the very large bowl shaped top of a volcano…many geysers, very hot water and steam vents, bubbling mud pots and waterfalls, all indicative of an active system under the Earth’s top layer of crust. Volcanos exist in Washington state and Hawaii; California is prone to earthquakes (as is a lot of the west coast of the USA, and now South Carolina.
All due to shifting tectonic plates. So, now back to the Saga of Energy in Iceland. Iceland is known as the land of Fire and Ice, 200 volcanos, 600 hot springs, an abundance of hot accessible underground water all because of the geology of this island. Icelanders have used the geothermal sources to bathe and to bake (as historically recorded) since 1907.
Twenty-seven years later, pipelines were constructed in Reykjavik to utilize some of this heat energy. All things scientific were halted until after World War II when Orkustofnun (National Energy Authority) got back to research and development, leading to Iceland’s breakthrough energy technology, allowing the utilization of geothermal energy as a primary energy source.
By the 1970s the oil crisis hits, and the big push to reduce coal and oil hits this country hard. They realize that they are in a major geothermal field and will need to drill a minimal amount to reach a prime energy source. Today, Iceland has 99.96% renewable energy and 85% of houses are geothermal. They use this geothermal energy to heat homes, generate electricity, heat the country’s many geothermal spas and pools, warm streets to prevent ice buildup, power greenhouses to produce their own organic fruits and vegetables and to produce aluminum.
Iceland has six geothermal power plants throughout the county. Icelanders will open a window in the winter when the inside temperature is too warm; Icelanders take long hot showers and they have the cleanest water from glacial melt in the world. Who’s ready to go?
So, where do we stand in the struggle for energy? Currently, there is debate about a lithium mine and production facility; pros and cons all over that one. Solar energy? What is the composition of solar panels and are they recyclable when they need to be replaced? Can we have a combination of electricity from the power grid as well as supplemental solar energy?
And what about those offshore wind turbines? Harnessing the wind is renewable but unreliable; how will that additional obstacle change behavior of animals…sound and danger?
Here’s one that we know works. Gaston County Solid Waste and Recycling captures the landfill gas, methane, carbon dioxide and a smattering of other gases, cleans up the gas and converts the very potent greenhouse gas, methane, into electricity at our very own power plant.
This gas will continue to form as long as folks and industry utilize the landfill. And then some, for 25 years after the landfill closes, we will still have the potential to collect and create power. We may not be Iceland, but we are using our natural resource.
Nan Kirlin is Gaston County recycling coordinator.
This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Figuring out the need for energy
