Week 8

Welcome back to my blog, this past week I focused my work on renewable energy efforts in the US. After researching the different energy sources most commonly used in the US, I found that 60% is sourced from fossil fuels, 18.2% from nuclear energy, and only 21.5% from renewable energy. This is a considerable difference compared to Iceland who source all of their energy sustainably. I wanted to look more thoroughly into the different renewable energy sources used and found that 10% comes from wind power, 6% from hydropower 3.5% from solar and the rest from biomass and geothermal energy. As I continued my research I discovered the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and the Solar Power International (SPI) Conference. The SEIA is a national trade association that deals with the U.S. solar energy industry and works hand in hand with the SPI where solar energy professionals, industry leaders, policymakers, and researchers come together to discuss solar energy. I will also look into wind energy next week as I am curious to see where the majority of them are located and further details about their efficiency.

I have also scheduled a zoom meeting with an Icelandic Hydrogen utilization company called Islensk Nyorka. This company is working to use Hydrogen in transportation in order to reduce emissions from car exhaust and fossil fuels. With many projects utilizing hydrogen and fuel cells in a variety of different vehicles, the company has outstanding knowledge and a unique experience that I believe would help me further understand Iceland’s proactivity in the domain of sustainability.