[Red Badger]

We could do a lot more in the geothermal arena.............

[count-your-change]

The obvious conceit in some society being termed “oil free” or nearly so, is that they rely on other's use of oil.
Everything they cannot produce themselves is produced by “oily” nations around the world. So Iceland will be “oil free” and crisply “green” when everyone sits beside a geyser for warmth and catches fish from the ocean with their hands.

[Reeses]

What about geothermal induced earthquakes? You couldn’t take too much of it near the surface without causing changes. The low cost/low hanging fruit is limited but I agree we could develop some new technologies to use more of it. Maybe slow motion robotic moles could be developed to run water lines at lower cost enabling some practical home heating and cooling.

[Hot Tabasco]

only water vapor comes out the exhaust pipe

if all the alleged atmospheric pollutants that are flying in the air today caused by coal and oil usage is replaced by water vapor, I have a nagging feeling that we just might be opening a pandoras box.

Overall, I can't see how artificially charging our atmosphere with water vapor could be advantageous to the planet. Look what happens to your bathroom walls, ceiling and mirror when you take a shower with the door closed........

[marron]

We can do the same thing the Icelanders are doing, but with the understanding that nuke power would be our engine rather than geothermal.

If you favor hydrogen-powered cars, and battery-powered cars, then you have to be thinking about nukes. We should be building about fifty of them right now.

If you want to get off of foreign power sources, the immediate short-term answer is drill like crazy and build coal-to-diesel plants left and right. The long term answer is nuclear.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Yea, unfortunately we don’t have volcanoes like Iceland.

[SeaWolf]

Iceland is not an oil free country, far from it. I spent a couple of good years there and while they have made excellent use of geothermal power and it has served them well, they are not free of oil. It is everywhere, they just don't have to heat their homes nor produce their electricity with it, the fishing fleet, the tractors, the vehicles still use it, it lubricates the geothermal machinery, and it keeps the weather at bay.