0:11 hey guys welcome to Iceland we are sixty
0:13 four point two degrees north just two
0:15 hundred and fifty kilometers shy of the
0:17 Arctic Circle the air temperature is
0:20 just above freezing yet I am in here
0:21 with nothing but a pair of shorts
0:23 sitting nice and comfortably in a
0:25 natural pool that's the temperature of
0:28 bathwater and let me tell you it is
0:31 absolute bliss for me at least how are
0:33 the crew yeah they're not loving it so
0:34 much I'll be quick
0:36 there aren't many places in the world
0:37 that you can do this and that's thanks
0:42 to Iceland's unique geological setting
0:44 the Earth's crust is the hard rock that
0:46 makes up the top 20 kilometers or so of
0:47 our planet
0:49 it's broken up into about twelve
0:53 gigantic tectonic plates and heat from
0:55 the Earth's core causes convection
0:57 currents in the semi-solid mantle just
1:00 below the crust and that pushes these
1:02 tectonic plates around like toys in a
1:05 bathtub where those tectonic plates
1:07 separate some of the immense heat from
1:09 deep within the earth can get closer to
1:11 the surface and that's what's happening
1:13 right here beneath Iceland the Eurasian
1:16 and the North American plates are moving
1:19 apart and a plume of mantle material is
1:21 upwelling from deep within the earth
1:23 it's this unique geology that's
1:25 responsible for Iceland's iconic
1:32 normally temperatures will increase by
1:34 about 35 degrees Celsius for every
1:37 kilometer depth but here in Iceland it
1:39 gets much much hotter much much quicker
1:41 to send a kilometer below me and the
1:44 temperature will soar by more than 200
1:46 degrees Celsius all that geothermal heat
1:49 is good for more than just scenery and a
1:51 spa day doe so it's about time I get out
1:53 and I show you how I'm also a little bit
2:04 this is a Stirling engine it is a great
2:06 example of how you can turn thermal
2:09 energy and turn it into another form of
2:13 energy so the plate at the bottom has
2:15 been heated up by this boiling water
2:17 underneath it the air inside the
2:20 Stirling engine is getting excited and
2:22 bouncing around more bats hitting on the
2:24 piston pushing the piston up and turning
2:30 the wheel on top oh my word well there's
2:36 Iceland the very ground itself is a vast
2:39 and inexhaustible source of geothermal
2:41 energy so the question is could we scale
2:43 this up and use that motion to drive an
2:46 electromagnetic generator and create
2:50 electricity well boom that is exactly
2:53 what Iceland have done this is the Navy
2:55 Elliot geothermal power station one of
2:58 seven major plans on this small island
3:01 that are specifically designed to tap
3:03 into that hot spot beneath the rocks to
3:06 get at the hottest rocks what they've
3:08 done is drawn of warhol up to three
3:11 kilometers deep water is pumped out it
3:14 gets superheated it expands into steam
3:16 when it rushes back up to turn turbines
3:19 and generate electricity on a national
3:22 scale around 25 percent of all of
3:23 Iceland's electricity comes from
3:26 geothermal sources the rest comes from
3:29 hydropower which means incredibly all of
3:31 Iceland's power comes from clean
3:34 renewable sources and this cheap clean
3:36 energy has helped transform isil's
3:39 economy from one of Europe's poorest
3:41 countries to one of its richest
3:43 electricity here is around a third
3:46 cheaper per kilowatt hour than in the UK
3:48 and that has fuelled a highly profitable
3:51 yet energy thirsty aluminium industry
3:53 that accounts for almost 40% of
3:57 Iceland's total exports and it is even
3:57 starting to power
4:01 Iceland's newest industry Bitcoin mining
4:03 tell you what though maybe they should
4:11 but Iceland's geothermal heat is being
4:13 harnessed for more than just electricity
4:15 while the power plants are drilling down
4:18 thousands of meters to access truly
4:20 immense temperatures you don't actually
4:23 need to go down that far to reap the
4:25 benefits water that seeps down into the
4:27 ground naturally is also heated before
4:30 it resurfaces sometimes in barley pools
4:31 like the 1oz enjoyed this morning and
4:35 sometimes as dramatic geezers like this
4:38 and this hot water has perhaps had an
4:40 even greater impact on Icelanders lives
4:42 it's used in the towns and cities to
4:44 heat around 90 percent of Icelandic
4:45 homes pumped under the streets and
4:47 pavements to keep them snow free and
4:51 it's even used in agriculture - in
4:53 recent decades greenhouses like this
4:56 have sprung up across Iceland they're
4:58 heated by geothermal energy and it means
5:00 that this cold barren island can produce
5:04 fresh delicious produce year-round and I
5:08 am going in to try self there we go got
5:13 one so how many tomatoes do you pick in
5:16 a day in our greenhouses we are we are
5:17 usually sending to the market one ton
5:19 every day we like to grow what most of
5:21 our own Tomatoes are as possible so we
5:24 can say about 65% of the tomatoes on the
5:27 market are ecstatic so how in a country
5:29 that is covered in snow a lot of the
5:32 time you know it doesn't have trees it's
5:34 a very little vegetation do you produce
5:36 tomatoes all year round the good thing
5:38 is that we have good help from our
5:40 nature so we can make it possible by
5:42 using the hot water in the ground but if
5:43 you're going to do it all year round we
5:45 also have to make Sun for them and the
5:47 good thing in Iceland is that all our
5:50 electricity are green making electricity
5:51 made from the cold with the warm of the
5:53 poles by running turbines what is hot in
5:55 here what's it doing in the greenhouses
5:58 we have about 25 kilometers of heating
6:00 pipes we are driving on two of them oh I
6:03 love that the tomato trolley runs on
6:07 some of the hot water pipes yep genius
6:10 and this is where he gets the hot water
6:12 from this is a geezer
6:15 it gives about 15 liters of water every
6:18 second that wasn't enough though so they
6:21 dug a borehole this goes 400 meters down
6:26 into the ground the power of nature so
6:29 this place really is it relies on nature
6:31 to exist we try to do everything as
6:33 natural as possible learn we can say our
6:35 main goal is to make a perfect day for
6:38 the hunt every day of the year so this
6:40 is a happy tomatoes and like tomatoes
6:44 they are 92% water 92% water so it's
6:46 really important that the plant is
6:48 getting good quality of water and in
6:50 Iceland we have so much good quality
6:52 cold water coming from the mountains so
6:54 we can give them the same water that we
6:56 are drinking in our houses don't get
6:58 much fresher than that and then it's
7:00 best to eat them straight from the club
7:02 take off one may I
7:05 mm-hmm let me just take this this is how
7:16 so why is it important for Iceland to
7:19 support farmers like yourselves we
7:21 should be a green buyers not a great
7:23 buyer and I think it's so important that
7:27 we we are buying local because it's so
7:28 much pollution for the world to be
7:30 traveling across the world with all this
7:32 food which we could easily could grow or
7:33 make in our own countries I mean the
7:35 tomatoes which you pick here in the
7:36 morning they can be in the supermarket
7:38 in the afternoon or the morning after I
7:40 think we could learn a lot from Iceland
7:41 and other countries around the world
7:44 you know harnessing modern techniques
7:47 using renewable energy and shopping
7:50 green and buying green is so much I
7:51 think we can learn from this wonderful
7:52 country I think everybody should think
7:54 about it because we only have a long
7:58 earth and we like to give the word to
8:00 our children the grandchildren John the
8:02 better in a better mood so it means a
8:12 lot to me travelling around Iceland
8:13 today it's become really clear how
8:15 connected the community is to the ground
8:17 underneath their feet it gives them the
8:20 hot water in their homes they create
8:21 renewable energy from it and now they
8:23 even get their salad and vegetables
8:26 using what's there the geothermal energy
8:29 it's been a fantastic fantastic day and
8:31 if you want to come on an adventure like
8:33 this you now have the chance we have
8:35 launched the BBC Earth presenter search
8:38 2018 watch this video to find out how to
8:40 enter please make sure you check out
8:41 most of the other videos that we're
8:43 making here in incredible Iceland make
8:45 sure you subscribe to the channel hit
8:46 the notification bow and then you'll be
8:48 the first to know and release a new
