Iceland Takes Hard Look at Tech Boom Sparked by Its Cheap, Bountiful Power

Lawmakers rethink whether a proliferation of data centers lured by the island’s Nordic climate and geothermal steam is risking the environment and tourism business

Zeke Turner | Photographs by

Heiða Helgadóttir for The Wall Street Journal

April 19, 2018 5:30 a.m. ET

REYKJANESBAER, Iceland—Steaming geysers, dramatic waterfalls and icy landscapes lure millions of tourists to this country every year. Now its geology is fueling a computer tech boom.

But the voracious electricity demand of Iceland’s proliferating data centers is testing the island nation’s environmental ethos.

Iceland’s Nordic climate and...