Iceland uniquely leverages its abundant geothermal energy, stemming from its geological position on tectonic plate boundaries, to power its economy, heat its homes, and sustain year-round agriculture, demonstrating a model of sustainable living.
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hey guys welcome to Iceland we are sixty
four point two degrees north just two
hundred and fifty kilometers shy of the
Arctic Circle the air temperature is
just above freezing yet I am in here
with nothing but a pair of shorts
sitting nice and comfortably in a
natural pool that's the temperature of
bathwater and let me tell you it is
absolute bliss for me at least how are
the crew yeah they're not loving it so
much I'll be quick
there aren't many places in the world
that you can do this and that's thanks
to Iceland's unique geological setting
the Earth's crust is the hard rock that
makes up the top 20 kilometers or so of
our planet
it's broken up into about twelve
gigantic tectonic plates and heat from
the Earth's core causes convection
currents in the semi-solid mantle just
below the crust and that pushes these
tectonic plates around like toys in a
bathtub where those tectonic plates
separate some of the immense heat from
deep within the earth can get closer to
the surface and that's what's happening
right here beneath Iceland the Eurasian
and the North American plates are moving
apart and a plume of mantle material is
upwelling from deep within the earth
it's this unique geology that's
responsible for Iceland's iconic
normally temperatures will increase by
about 35 degrees Celsius for every
kilometer depth but here in Iceland it
gets much much hotter much much quicker
to send a kilometer below me and the
temperature will soar by more than 200
degrees Celsius all that geothermal heat
is good for more than just scenery and a
spa day doe so it's about time I get out
and I show you how I'm also a little bit
this is a Stirling engine it is a great
example of how you can turn thermal
energy and turn it into another form of
energy so the plate at the bottom has
been heated up by this boiling water
underneath it the air inside the
Stirling engine is getting excited and
bouncing around more bats hitting on the
piston pushing the piston up and turning
the wheel on top oh my word well there's
Iceland the very ground itself is a vast
and inexhaustible source of geothermal
energy so the question is could we scale
this up and use that motion to drive an
electromagnetic generator and create
electricity well boom that is exactly
what Iceland have done this is the Navy
Elliot geothermal power station one of
seven major plans on this small island
that are specifically designed to tap
into that hot spot beneath the rocks to
get at the hottest rocks what they've
done is drawn of warhol up to three
kilometers deep water is pumped out it
gets superheated it expands into steam
when it rushes back up to turn turbines
and generate electricity on a national
scale around 25 percent of all of
Iceland's electricity comes from
geothermal sources the rest comes from
hydropower which means incredibly all of
Iceland's power comes from clean
renewable sources and this cheap clean
energy has helped transform isil's
economy from one of Europe's poorest
countries to one of its richest
electricity here is around a third
cheaper per kilowatt hour than in the UK
and that has fuelled a highly profitable
yet energy thirsty aluminium industry
that accounts for almost 40% of
Iceland's total exports and it is even
starting to power
Iceland's newest industry Bitcoin mining
tell you what though maybe they should
but Iceland's geothermal heat is being
harnessed for more than just electricity
while the power plants are drilling down
thousands of meters to access truly
immense temperatures you don't actually
need to go down that far to reap the
benefits water that seeps down into the
ground naturally is also heated before
it resurfaces sometimes in barley pools
like the 1oz enjoyed this morning and
sometimes as dramatic geezers like this
and this hot water has perhaps had an
even greater impact on Icelanders lives
it's used in the towns and cities to
heat around 90 percent of Icelandic
homes pumped under the streets and
pavements to keep them snow free and
it's even used in agriculture - in
recent decades greenhouses like this
have sprung up across Iceland they're
heated by geothermal energy and it means
that this cold barren island can produce
fresh delicious produce year-round and I
am going in to try self there we go got
one so how many tomatoes do you pick in
a day in our greenhouses we are we are
usually sending to the market one ton
every day we like to grow what most of
our own Tomatoes are as possible so we
can say about 65% of the tomatoes on the
market are ecstatic so how in a country
that is covered in snow a lot of the
time you know it doesn't have trees it's
a very little vegetation do you produce
tomatoes all year round the good thing
is that we have good help from our
nature so we can make it possible by
using the hot water in the ground but if
you're going to do it all year round we
also have to make Sun for them and the
good thing in Iceland is that all our
electricity are green making electricity
made from the cold with the warm of the
poles by running turbines what is hot in
here what's it doing in the greenhouses
we have about 25 kilometers of heating
pipes we are driving on two of them oh I
love that the tomato trolley runs on
some of the hot water pipes yep genius
and this is where he gets the hot water
from this is a geezer
it gives about 15 liters of water every
second that wasn't enough though so they
dug a borehole this goes 400 meters down
into the ground the power of nature so
this place really is it relies on nature
to exist we try to do everything as
natural as possible learn we can say our
main goal is to make a perfect day for
the hunt every day of the year so this
is a happy tomatoes and like tomatoes
they are 92% water 92% water so it's
really important that the plant is
getting good quality of water and in
Iceland we have so much good quality
cold water coming from the mountains so
we can give them the same water that we
are drinking in our houses don't get
much fresher than that and then it's
best to eat them straight from the club
take off one may I
mm-hmm let me just take this this is how
so why is it important for Iceland to
support farmers like yourselves we
should be a green buyers not a great
buyer and I think it's so important that
we we are buying local because it's so
much pollution for the world to be
traveling across the world with all this
food which we could easily could grow or
make in our own countries I mean the
tomatoes which you pick here in the
morning they can be in the supermarket
in the afternoon or the morning after I
think we could learn a lot from Iceland
and other countries around the world
you know harnessing modern techniques
using renewable energy and shopping
green and buying green is so much I
think we can learn from this wonderful
country I think everybody should think
about it because we only have a long
earth and we like to give the word to
our children the grandchildren John the
better in a better mood so it means a
lot to me travelling around Iceland
today it's become really clear how
connected the community is to the ground
underneath their feet it gives them the
hot water in their homes they create
renewable energy from it and now they
even get their salad and vegetables
using what's there the geothermal energy
it's been a fantastic fantastic day and
if you want to come on an adventure like
this you now have the chance we have
launched the BBC Earth presenter search
2018 watch this video to find out how to
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