Iceland Teaches the World to Dig for Energy

Icelanders more than anyone else find most of the energy they need beneath their feet.

In the world of renewable energy, this is geothermal energy, a way of tapping into the heat below the earth surface and turning it into heat and power.
Icelandic leaders say they are keen to share know-how in geothermal energy with the rest of the world.

Since 1979 the National Energy Authority, the Orkustofnun, has run a United Nations University Geothermal Training Programme jointly sponsored by the Icelandic Ministry of Foreign Affairs (80 percent) and the UN (20 percent). The course lasts six months and includes considerable field work. Twenty-one students from 12 countries graduated last October.

Of the 39 countries that have sent people on the course, China has provided 64 participants, more than any other. So far 350 people have completed the course.

Proportionate to consumption, much of Icelandic energy is geothermal, but overall China uses the most geothermal energy in the world. As of the end of 2006, 3,200 geothermal areas had been listed in China, of which 255 are high-temperature areas suitable for generating electricity.

Icelandic companies, in conjunction with the Chinese company Shaanxi Green Energy, have just built a geothermal district heating system in Xian Yang in China which has the potential to become the largest such facility in the world.

IPS