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Candy (Hellishei​ð​i geothermal power plant and CarbFix storage site, Iceland)

from Future Landscapes by fyield

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Turning danger into stone under the ground
Driving south from Reykjavík, one cannot help but notice the steam coming from the extensive infrastructure around the Hengill volcano. This once pristine geothermal area is criss-crossed with roads, boreholes and pipelines that are fixtures of the Hellisheiði geothermal power plant. Iceland is dotted with power stations like this one, and countless kilometres of pipelines wind through the landscape. Each of such plants consists of several wells that allow heat to pass from the earth’s core into our world.

The characteristic hissing of steam is far from the only sound that geothermal power produces. The sound reveals just how complicated the process is. It is commonly presented as a prototype of sustainability, environmental friendliness, clean energy and carbon-free production. But beneath the surface lies a different face of our efforts to harness one of the largest untapped sources of energy.

The individual wells pierce through geological layers in different parts of the country in order to bring heat to homes, pavements and saunas. But by drilling deep into the ground we undermine geological stability, causing earthquakes and releases harmful gases and substances hidden in the earth’s bowels into the air. The smell of hydrogen sulphide and sulphur that goes hand in hand with geothermal power production is locally called the “Icelandic perfume”.

Hellisheiði also produces a different kind of hissing than that of steam. The source is the Carbfix technology, which turns gas into stone. The local basalt bedrock allows it to store CO2 underground in a form other than gas. The technology captures CO2 by injecting water into the pores of the underground rock. There, the carbon dioxide reacts with the rock and gradually turns into rock itself.

Iceland and the surrounding oceans have the capacity to hold vast amounts of CO2, thanks to their bedrock formed by millions of years of volcanic activity. The ambition of local government and businesses is therefore to bring carbon dioxide from other parts of Europe to the island and specialize in carbon storage. The future will show whether this is an effective approach to climate crisis and whether we can buy time in this manner – until the day when we are able to limit CO2 production. Meanwhile, injections into the bedrock have disturbed the Hengill volcano due to hundreds of earthquakes caused by this technology’s treatment of the earth.

lyrics

We share the blame
Like sucking on a candy
We were enjoying the treat
Now our teeth fall out

We share the shame
Like sucking on a candy
(For far too long)
We were enjoying the treat
Now our minds explode

And our hearts break
Because there's no way back

No, there's no way back

Because
We can't keep on moving
Only forward all the time
We can't keep on climbing up

We can't
We can't
We just can't

We're looking for a priest,
To confess to
We're looking for a priest,
To take away our guilt

For too long we were
Accepting the gift
That kept on giving
Without ever giving
Anything back

For too long we were accepting
The gift
That kept on giving
Without ever giving anything back
Never giving anything back

We're not needed here.

credits

from Future Landscapes, released October 31, 2022

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fyield Prague, Czechia

In their new music project Václav Havelka, Pan Thorarensen and Kryštof Kříček fuse music composed of sounds from selected natural and industrial locations in the Czech and Icelandic landscapes with electronics, beats and music instruments.

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