This is really freakin' cool. Iceland is basically run completely on sustainable energy already (harnessed geothermal from their many volcanoes, mostly) and now are installing a hydrogen-fuel infrastructure. Some of their buses and government-owned vehicles are already hydrogen-fueled, in addition to a whale-watching boat.Since their power infrastructure is already sustainable, one could argue that there is no need for hydrogen, since driving an electric car would be zero emissions, and that technology already exists (and is arguably less-explosive), but Icelanders counter that having to recharge a vehicle doesn't work in such a sparsely-populated country, and wouldn't work for boats who can be out to sea for weeks at a time.
It does sadden me that the only countries capable of these kinds of progressive initiatives are small, rich (well, formerly rich) states like Sweden, Denmark and Iceland, but maybe eventually their successes will trickle down to our land of gluttony. Go Iceland!
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In other Iceland-is-smarter-than-we-are news... Johanna Sigurdardottir was recently named the new Prime Minister, becoming the first openly gay head of state in the world. Skuli Helgeson of the Social Democratic Alliance commenting on Sigurdardottir: "I don't think her sexual orientation matters. Our voters are pretty liberal, they don't care about any of that."
Well done, Iceland.
Another note about Iceland... it turns out Iceland doesn't have a standing army to speak of, and 2008 was the first year in the country's history that it had a budget allowance for national defense (a paltry $8.2 million when compared to the US defense budget for 2008 of $481.4 BILLION). I guess cool things happen when taxpayer money doesn't go towards things that kill citizens in other countries.
Well, that gives Iceland 3 points, to our 0 points. I guess we deserve a point for electing a progressive leader, so lets say:
Iceland 3, The Rest of Us 1
Thanks Obama.
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