Iceland gets international recognition for being a green and eco-friendly nation using 100% renewable energy. But realistically Icelanders have one of the highest ecological footprints per capita at about 12.7 ha per capita (excluding fishing grounds due to statistical skew) which soars over the nation’s bio-capacity of 4.4 ha per capita (1).
Ecological footprint “measures the total amount of goods and services consumed by a country’s inhabitants on a per capita basis, as well as the amount of waste assimilated and the area of vegetated land required to sequester all CO2 emissions and those embodied in products consumed” (1).
Between the years 1990-2010 the total CO2 emissions road transportation increased by 55% in conjunction with increased imports of new cars with growing population and tourists (1). Iceland now has the 5th largest ownership of vehicles per capita in the world (1) with passenger vehicles numbering 217,454 in 2014 (3).
Although aluminum industries account for much more of Iceland’s carbon emissions than the transportation sector, the industry is also way more restrained in its ability to reduce levels of emissions (1). There are far more opportunities to decrease greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector by simply switching to low-emission vehicles such as electric cars.
Green Energy, Green Cars
Electric car use in Iceland would be the simple solution to decreasing Iceland’s ecological footprint, particularly since the country is powered by a relatively cheap supply of renewable energy. One of the factors that deter people from buying electric cars is the lack of charging infrastructure available to re-charge the vehicles. But lately there has been talk to address this issue where the government and private industries are looking to invest in electric car imports and building a larger network of public recharging facilities (2). The market for environmentally friendly vehicles is also increasing. In the year 2000 there were only 35 low emission vehicles in Iceland and by 2011 it climbed to 1043 (see figure below) (2). More and more Icelanders are considering switching to electric cars in the future. A recent survey showed that 74% of participants answered yes when asked if they could see themselves buying an electric car in the next 5 years (2).
The Future of Electric Cars in Iceland
With the proper infrastructure available to charge electric cars throughout the island, it is very likely Icelanders will be willing to make the switch from high carbon emitting gas vehicles to low emission electric ones in the future. If a majority of car owners in Iceland make this change I believe it would have a significant impact on decreasing their ecological footprint, at least in the transportation sector. Although making such a switch may be higher initial costs, the long term costs of vehicle use in Iceland could decrease and associated costs of carbon emissions would also decrease.
For news articles related to this topic check out:
https://grapevine.is/mag/articles/2017/05/18/the-future-is-coming/
Sources Cited
- Olafsson, Snjolfur, David Cook, Brynhildur Davidsdottir, and Lara Johannsdottir. “Measuring Countries׳ Environmental Sustainability Performance: A Review and Case Study of Iceland.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 39 (2014): 934-48.
- Kjartansdóttir, Tinna. “Electric Vehicles in Iceland: Private Consumer Market 2013-2017.” (2012): n. pag. Web. <http://skemman.is/stream/get/1946/14089/33691/1/TinnaK_Masters.pdf>.
- “Iceland in Figures 2016.” (n.d.): 28. Statistics Iceland, 2016. Web. <https://www.statice.is/media/49863/icelandinfigures2016.pdf>.
