Hey guys! Hope you're all doing great this evening. Today I want to talk about this renewable energy that is not much talked about. And it is not much considered like the things we know like hydropower or wind power. Even nuclear power is more famous than this. What I'm talking about is geothermal energy. And there are good reasons for you to hear about this for the first time, if that is the case. First of all, energy is a formal energy that is derived from the heat stored beneath the Earth's surface. It originates from the planet's radioactive core. And it is renewable because the Earth stores an unimaginable amount of heat and whatever is decayed, gets replenished naturally over time. So if you make energy out of it, you basically have an unlimited supply. And geothermal energy isn't going anywhere at least until humans are alive.
To emphasize on how beneficial it is and why this is not famous, I would like to demonstrate an example, probably the only valid example. We will talk about Iceland. The island country in Scandinavia. Situated near the Atlantic and the North Pole. Iceland has an abundance of geothermal energy beneath its soil. And this isn't used everywhere because energy even though the Earth's core is only one and it should theoretically be accessible from anywhere on the planet, it isn't the case. At some parts of the planet, the energy reserve is far deeper, at some places it's more towards the Earth's surface. And as it gets closer, it is easier for humans to extract it. In other words, Iceland has been handed a geographical advantage. Being near the North Pole, Iceland requires heating in its homes as it is quite cold out there year-round. Usually this eats up a huge amount of energy that a nation produces or imports. But Iceland has circumvented this problem by using their very own geothermal energy and saving up a lot of money in the process. They're also using this heated liquid to generate electricity. And as a result, electricity charges are some of the lowest in the world in Iceland. That same geothermal energy has also benefited Iceland in other ways such as tourism. Hot spas and blue lagoons and other natural phenomenons are quite a tourist attraction. And that's why Iceland gets a huge amount of tourists every year, which is a sizable amount of the GDP and employment. We also know that the aluminum industry is a very important part of the world economy. And smelting aluminum is a very energy intensive work. Yes, you guessed it right. Iceland does this also with their geothermal energy.
Basically, you do all the energy intensive work with your abundance of energy supply and you save millions upon billions in the process. A very smart move by the country. This has allowed the country to raise its living standards to one of the best in the world, even though being one the smallest of countries. And it allows Iceland to be one dimensional in their economic decisions because geothermal is unlimited unlike fossil fuel. So they don't have to scramble like the Gulf States. And they can use the surplus economic output to import the things they do not produce. Like food, perishable items, vehicles, electronics and even aluminum smelting equipment.
Iceland was actually hit very hard in the global financial crisis of 2008. But due to this particular industry and a size alone from the IMF, they have turned the luck around like the superhero comeback story. And the thing is this can be copied unless you have geothermal energy under your feet as well.
