I don’t want to rain on everyone’s parade but the population of Iceland is 285,000. The USA has over 300,000,000 residents. That means we have 1000 times the population of Iceland. Also, our land mass is much greater. I wouldn’t expect the solutions to Icelands energy problems to be feasible on a scale the size of the USA. Nonetheless, we should watch how they go about the transformation...maybe we can learn something from it.
Agree with your cautions. Another question in my mind is how much does Iceland export? Is it feeding the world like the U.S. is? Innovating medicines, technology, etc. or just self-sustaining? The U.S. could be largely self-sustaining but it would mean drastically cutting the lifestyle of not only U.S. citizens but also the rest of the world as we cut down on illegal immigration, educating foreign students, exporting our excess production, producing entertainment and other popular exports, stopping foreign aid, closing foreign military posts, dropping out of treaties that require us to look beyond our borders, and thousands of other ways in which the U.S. carries the world on its back. To put in a more intimate setting, a kid can use a whole lot less energy than a parent since the kid need look after only himself.
On another aspect, when I was going through school in the early eighties, I had to research geothermal development restrictions. The number of diverse of permits in federal, state and local jurisdictions was unbelievable, with it being nearly impossible to complete the whole permitting process without the first permits expiring. And that was before environmental groups started monkey wrenching with their “public interest” lawsuits. I would hope it is easier now but I wonder.