Geothermal power and sustainability in Icelandic bed and breakfast ventures

Sustainability in Iceland

It is essential that modern businesses of all sizes focus on putting the planet into the bottom line. An article from The Economist suggests that all businesses, including small businesses like the bed-and-breakfast, should focus on implementing a triple bottom line. The first two are more traditional, with the first being profit or the bottom line of the profit and loss measurements. The second is people, thus being able to be socially responsible and take care of not only the organization of society as a whole. According to this article, "The third is the bottom line of the company's "planet" account -- a measure of how environmentally responsible it has been" (The Economist, 2009). The idea here is that we must take into account our environmental impact within our balance scorecard and other business operational practices. It is crucial not only to think of a profit and loss, but also how operations impact the environment around us. There is a price to pay when a business, even such a small one as the bed-and-breakfast, believes detrimental environmental impacts.

As such, it is important for all businesses of various sizes to focus on strategies to implement sustainable practices within their business models. For the current investigation, it is clear that Iceland provides a number of sustainable sources of energy that can be used by the bed-and-breakfast. The primary source of energy that is seemingly never ending here in Iceland is geothermal energy. According to the research geothermal energy is "energy is the heat energy that occurs naturally in the earth. The energy is recovered from the heat of the earth's core" (Corbin, 2001). This internal energy then seeps up through the Earth's crust in the form of volcanoes, hot springs, geysers, and other sources. The energy is derived from the intense heat coming from inside the Earth's core, as radioactive elements "decay beneath the Earth's surface" (Corbin, 2001). This source of energy has been used for generations. People have been traveling from all over to enjoy the warmth of Hot Springs for years. Yet recent technological developments have been able to transfer this form of heat energy into sustainable usable energy that can be utilized by both commercial and residential facilities. Iceland has been using geothermal energy to "generate electricity, and to provide heat for homes and industries" (Corbin, 2001). It is a sustainable way to generate both electricity and heat, making incredibly flexible and sustainable at the same time. Fortunately, "geothermal energy is a versatile and reliable source of heat and electricity which generally produces none of the greenhouse gases associated with combustion of fossil fuels" (Corbin, 2001). Iceland is a prime source for using geothermal energy because of the intense volcanic and geothermal activity on the island. The country of Iceland have been using geothermal energy for over 60 years. Currently, "geothermal power facilitates currently generate 25% of the country's total electricity production" (National Energy Authority, 2013). It has proven its worth as a sustainable source of energy to provide electricity and heat, thus replacing the need for natural gas and coal.