CURRENT MOON

Sunday, March 26, 2006

The Kuwait of the North


BBC reports that Iceland has plans to bore into volcanoes and use supercritical water to increase its energy production. Supercritical water is "water that is not simply a mixture of steam and hot water but a single phase which can carry much more energy."

The article notes that, "Engineers on the project have calculated that increasing the temperature by 200 degrees and the pressure by 200 Bar will mean that, for the same flow rate, the energy extracted from such a borehole will go up from 5MW to 50MW. Power station manager Albert Albertsson predicts that, by the end of the century, "Iceland could become the Kuwait of the North", exporting energy in the form of liquid hydrogen as part of a new hydrogen economy."

So, that's great, but here's the part that made me really, really jealous. Describing a lake heated by geothermal energy, Mr. Albertsson says, ""For me, the ideal time to take a dip is in the middle of winter, in the middle of the night, looking up at the stars and the Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights."" How wonderful does that sound?

4 comments:

Sandy-LA 90034 said...

I'm enjoying your various and diverse posts -- you've been prolific this weekend. In between working on your garden and checking on the new arrival? I hope you'll post more pictures of your grandbaby and maybe some of your garden at some point.

Anonymous said...

This sounds delicious. A confirmation of why we have been gifted with our senses.

What a rush.

Bill Vieira said...

i will go to that lake in the next couple of years.

Ellie Finlay said...

That sounds truly wonderful and the picture you posted it stunning.