The one thing that David's article fails to mention is that, unlike Iceland, we are not built over a magnificiently huge geothermal releasing grounds and we have an emensely larger population than Iceland does.

The only thing that Iceland can teach America is that if we have a tiny population and act smug enough, maybe we too can become one giant spa in order to have other rich smug people come and spend all of their money. But with that being the case, who cares about energy demands when you are bringing more tourists into the country than there are actual residents!

In Maryland, a very liberal state, we were denied wind power and hydro power plants by our governor because they would interfere with the wildlife. Besides wind and water, what else is there? Solar isn't efficient enough, especially not in Maryland. We don't have volcanos all over the place.

Yeah, that lesson sure works here! Oh gesh.

" Many things are expensive in Iceland, especially food. (A slice of surprisingly decent pizza in downtown Reykjavik will set you back $7.) "

Oh, so you spend half as much money on electricty, but 4 times as much on a slice of pizza! Yeah, really smart. Where did you get your economics degree? Because it really should be revoked for not understanding simple mathematics.

Actually the thing that the people of Iceland have done is to find a way to make their energy exportable through the courting of companies like Alcoa which are highly energy intensive and providing power at a low enough cost to make it profitable to ship raw materials to Iceland and refined materials from there to the rest of the world. Iceland is doing a great job of utilizing it's one energy resource, unfortunately the author doesn't understand that what they have done is no different than what we have done. We ship oil because we can they provide a place to use their energy because it can't be shipped.

Icelandic people - smart, this author (based on this one article) not so much.

Perhaps the author is pointing out that Icelanders don't sit around with their thumbs up their asses, talking about how we can't reproduce what they've done? Instead, they go out and actually try to do things. Now, granted, we only have a couple huge volcanic areas, like the three caldera that lie in and around Yellowstone. Oddly enough, there's not a single geothermal plant in Idaho, Montana, or Wyoming. But, we're far too busy grousing about how easy it is for others to be green to suck it up, and actually build geothermal plants in these areas.

You know, San, I'm pretty sure that the survivors of Mount Saint Helen would be shocked as shit to find out that we don't have volcanoes.

Most of the northwest is largely powered by the dams on the Columbia river, along with a handful of other facilities. Also, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming combined have a population of less than 3 million, or about half the population of Washington state and contain very little in the way of industry.

Any attempt to build significant geothermal power facilities in or around Yellowstone would likely be agressively opposed by the environmental lobby as it would violate the conservation of the National Park, and any attempt to bring in industries to utilize that power would definitely be opposed by the local populations and governments (at least in Montana, not sure if Idaho or Wyoming are as agressive at preventing population growth)

" their energy exportable through the courting of companies like Alcoa"

By that, you mean destroy two of Iceland's most important rivers to give this company cheep power? Yeah, that would work in America.

Oh wait.

Our environmentalists actually care about our environment.

"Instead, they go out and actually try to do things."

You mean they don't care, because a lot of the people in the country are dirt poor and that its all averaged out by a select few rich land owners who make fancy resorts to have smug rich people around the world come and dump all of their money there?

Excuse me, but where is the Volcano in Texas? Florida? Maine? New York? LA? You know, the places where we USE ELECTRICITY?

Damn.

You are an idiot without a clue.

To harness the power would require you actually having it near the source. Notice how most of it is used to pipe hot water into homes.

Damn.

How clueless are you? Really, you don't belong here, because you lack the intellectual minimum for such a place as this.

san, san, san, so THIS is where you have been hiding. Run out of Faith Based so soon?

You forget Yellowstone. It is an enormous thermal generator. New Mexico sits on many active volcanoes. The New Madrid Fault runs through Arkansas and Missouri. You might want to check out the USGS maps on seismic activity in the US.

As usual you project your own inadequacies on others. How long will it take before you feel good enough, smart enough, and doggone it, before people like you?