In the 1970s, the Icelandic people made a decision to use geothermal in a big way. The decision was made around the time of the “oil crisis.”
Now, 50 years later, you can see the results. More than 90 percent of their houses are heated by geothermal. The people are warm in their homes, and they don’t have to cut firewood.
Hawaii monitors for Hydrogen Sulfide much more than Iceland does. We were about 100 yards away when I took that video. You wouldn’t want to be right in the stuff, but no one seemed very concerned.
I have not seen one overhead utility line. Except for the heavy transmission lines, they are all buried underground.
Hawai‘i could be like this, too.
I’m standing on a black sand beach that stretches as far as you can see in both directions.
These would be perfect imu rocks! Very porous.
This next picture could have been taken somewhere on the Big Island.
The rocks in Iceland look like our rocks. It all comes from the same place.
The Icelandic folks have their electricity supply situation completely under control. They focused on affordable and renewable.
This is a small, camouflaged geothermal well that is used only for heating. It brings up heat from around 2,000 feet down and is piped to homes in the area. These are spread around the city and one hardly notices them.
Hydrogen is made on site using cheap electricity and water. This is still experimental.
And they take every opportunity to make multiple revenue streams. Think “exporting tomatoes using artificial light and heat from cheap geothermal.” And raising tilapia. We can learn a lot from these folks.
Roald Marth (left) and I met with Ambassador Luis E. Arrega (middle).
When Iceland transitioned to geothermal, they kept some of their old, oil-fired generating units in place. We drove by one yesterday and were told that in 50 years, they have never had to fire it back up.
(To be continued)
Catch up on the Icelandic Saga: