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Iceland Goes Oil-Free
It kinda looks like the setting for a George Lucas movie, doesn't it? Well, it may be science, but it's not fiction and this could represent the future in more ways than one. We've already shown you how these clever Icelanders have taken their happy combination of ground water and geothermal energy that generate electricity and hot water. The only oil these people need to import is to power their transportation fleet: their cars or trucks, boats and buses and whatnot.
Well, it didn't take them long to figure out you got water, you got cheap power, you can use the power to split the water into oxygen and hydrogen and use the hydrogen to power your transportation fleet. As for all the technology to use hydrogen either as a fuel cell or as a combustion fuel is already pretty well developed. All they need is a source of hydrogen - the circle is now complete.
In fact, a couple of car companies and oil companies are already developing experimental projects to develop hydrogen in Iceland. And, in fact, the stated policy of the Icelandic government is to be oil-free within forty years. Now, think about that. Here's a highly developed nation with a very high standard of living in a very inhospitable climate and they could be completely free of oil within our lifetime. That's pretty amazing.
Now, if could happen in Iceland, why not elsewhere? I mean, there's hotsprings everywhere in the world, particularly in Western Canada. All it requires is the imagination, the courage, and, of course, the capital investment. But I tell you, if I was a sheik in Saudi Arabia, I'd either be really nervous - or I'd be buying land around here.
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