| Summary: | Ecological footprint (EF) analysis has been introduced as an indicator of ecological sustainability. EF is defined as the biologically productive land and water a population requires to produce the resources it consumes and to absorb part of the waste generated, mostly by fossil fuel consumption. The main objective of this thesis is to explore whether it is possible to use EF as an indicator on land use of different production processes in electricity generation, particular with respect to ecologically sustainable land use. Local analysis of two different power plants were made, hydro-electrical and geothermal-electrical. EF of both direct land occupation and indirect land occupation related to CO2 emissions from each plant were calculated. The main findings are that EF of the geothermal-electrical plant is almost 100% due to indirect land occupation whereas EF of the hydro-electrical plant is largely due to direct land occupation (62-75%). It is concluded that EF as a stand-alone indicator is not sufficient for ecological sustainable land use planning. The usefulness of EF as an indicator on direct land occupation of power plants in Iceland is limited, as many power plants are located in an unproductive area. The main strength of EF is found to be its ability to highlight the importance of looking after the natural capital and finding a satisfactory solution to decrease consumption related to emissions of CO2. Aðferðafræðin um vistsporið (e. Ecological Footprint Analysis) hefur verið kynnt sem reikningstæki til að mæla vistfræðilega sjálfbærni, þar sem neyslu mannsins og hluta af þeim úrgangi sem af henni hlýst er umbreytt í frjótt landsvæði sem lýsir þannig álagi mannsins á náttúruna. Álagið er síðan borið saman við hið frjóa landsvæði sem maðurinn hefur til ráðstöfunar. Markmiðið með ritgerð þessari var að kanna hvort mögulegt væri að nota aðferðafræðina um vistsporið sem mælikvarða á landnotkun mismunandi framleiðsluaðferða í raforkuframleiðslu. Tilgangurinn er fyrst og fremst að aðstoða við ákvarðanatöku á ...
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