Friday, August 24, 2007

Iceland scenes





A few pictures for those of you who are unlikely to get here.

--One of many outdoor sculptures in Reykjavik, this one by Ásmundur Sveinsson.
--Evidence of the direction of lava flow, seen on rocks throughout the country.
--A grave marker from years ago: To this date, each Icelander has a first name and then a last name based on his or her father´s first name. There are no last names. Phone books list people alphabetically by their first names.
--The side of a glacial valley, cut through volcanic rock. (All the rock here is volcanic.)
--Road and pipe leading from the geothermal energy plant that serves the capital city. Bore holes produce steam and hot water. The steam drives a turbine to produce electricity. The leftover steam and hot water then pass through a heat exchanger to heat cool water taken from a lake, which is then transported about 30 kilometers to Reykjavik, losing only 2 degrees Celsius en route. Geothermal energy is a key asset in Iceland´s economy.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

I've always heard that Iceland is very beautiful.

I think I will go take a look and see just how much of their energy needs are met geothermaly. I think that's awesome how they use it.

Unknown said...

....ah, 70% of their energy needs are met by renewable sources, mainly being geothermal and hyrdoelectric. They plan to be 100% self reliant by 2050.

Source: Wikipedia~

Anonymous said...

Because there are certain names are used quite a bit with this patronymic system, there are many many duplications. So the phone book lists people's professions as well.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, buttercup.

Matt, 99.9% of the buildings in the capital are heated geothermally!

Anonymous said...

Maybe you'll enjoy this.

Part 1
Part 2

Or maybe not.

Anonymous said...

thanks so much for sharing, its just astonishing!

Lyss said...

nice pics