GEOTHERMAL POWER
(Page 3 of 4)
So they did.
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Take Reykjavik, for instance. Half of Iceland's 200,000
people live in or near this capital city and —
through the courtesy of Mother Earth and the District
Heating System — -every last person enjoys all the
hot water he wants. The whole town, you see, is plumbed
right into the earth's core. Turn on any local equivalent
of an "H" faucet and you'll have as much natural hot water
as you want for as long as you want it. (You'll be
recycling rather than using up resources, too. The hot
water of Iceland is rainwater which has been heated as it
seeps into the island's volcanic rocks.)
Reykjavik's city heating plant works the same way. Natural
steam and hot water from below the surface is simply run
through the pipes of the town which, in turn, are buried in
the concrete sidewalks. In addition to supplying such
obvious creature comforts as warmth, this set-up makes for
some rather picturesque situations. For instance, if it's
very cold in Reykjavik (not a common occurance, due to
geothermal activity and the proximity of the Gulf Stream),
you can actually see steam rising from the walks.
Snow, of course, melts as soon as it hits the pavement.
The creative Icelanders haven't stopped with heated foot
paths, either. A plant at Lake Myvatn, near the Arctic
Circle, stands as operating proof that industry doesn't
have to pollute. There, natural steam is used to
evaporate diatomite (which is exported to Europe for use in
filters) from the floor of the lake. The operation has been
so successful some experts predict that, eventually, all of
Iceland's industry will run on a combination of geothermal
and water power.
For that matter, one major Icelandic industry has already
largely converted to magma-power. Since the country is
— agriculturally speaking — far from gifted,
the Icelanders have evolved what amounts to indoor truck
farming in huge greenhouses. And those greenhouses, as
might be expected, are mostly heated by natural steam.
Since much of the flowers, fruit and vegetables produced on
these indoor farms is "organic" or naturally grown . . .
that's about as natural as you can get (and at the
sixty-fourth parallel, to boot!)
Such greenhouses are the major industry of the city of
Hverigerdi and the Nature Cure Sanatorium — also
located at Hverigerdi — depends heavily on their
year-round supply of naturally-grown produce. Doctors in
all parts of Iceland regularly send patients to this
sanatorium for post-operative care, general physical
rehabilitation and just plain relaxation.
