Iceland sits on top of two different ridges with earth surface plate aparting from each other at a rate of 2 centimeter a year. Iceland sits on top of many volcanoes because of that, and these volcanoes erupts once every 4 years. This causes Iceland consists of rupture land with different temperature, some provide warm water, and some are even hot enough to provide direct steam. The geothermal exchange is a consistent exchange of heat from ground water (cold) to underground water (hot).
Iceland harvests the steam to drive turbines, which generates electricity of the entire island. Harvesting geothermal energy has many advantages over traditional power plant options:
- Emission free
- Zero carbon
- No fuel required (no input source needed)
- More reliable than solar energy (only works in day time) and wind energy (subject to season changes)
- Smallest land footprint
- Almost limitless supply
- Simple and reliable
Iceland’s geothermal energy plant produces 25% of its total electricity production. 40% of the geothermal energy is used for producing electricity, 43% is used for space heating, and the rest are used on various subjects that require direct heat. See chart down below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs6n0baLQ6w