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Click on the picture to watch this audio slideshow about bird watching at Óshólmar, an area at the mouth of Eyjafjardará river just outside Akureyri in north Iceland, the largest Icelandic town outside the capital region. Not many tourists know about this attraction, which is perfect for a walk in the sun.
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Located just 40 minutes by car and six minutes from Keflavík International Airport, Sandgerdi (“Sandy Hedge”) is a growing town of 1,700 with a storied history and loads to see. Read this special promotion about the hidden secrets of one of Iceland's most charming seaside villages.
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The Icelandic National Energy Authority (OS) signed an agreement with German energy company Energie Baden-Württemberg (EnBW) on Wednesday for research drilling and investigation into whether electricity can be transported from Iceland to Germany via an ocean-floor cable.
Director of OS Thorkell Helgason said representatives from EnBW had visited Iceland last fall, which is when they first became interested in the project, as reported in Fréttabladid.
“We didn’t hear anything from them for awhile, until a few weeks ago. Then they were very interested, especially regarding drilling. They want to participate to some extent and are prepared to contribute with considerable amounts of money.” Helgason said.
EnBW is Germany’s third largest energy company and has about EUR 13 billion (USD 18 billion) in annual turnover. The company has declared its goal to be sustainable energy production and a green vision for the future.
Helgason said it is not clear what role EnBW will have in the research project and added that the German company has not been promised anything.
“Their vision is that in the distant future they can transport considerable amounts of geothermal electricity from Iceland to Germany via an ocean-floor cable. Geothermal energy is considered greener than hydroelectric power,” Helgason said.
“It is not unlikely that in the not-too-distant future grants for green energy will be standardized across Europe, so national borders will be suspended. Then it won’t matter where good things come from,” Helgason continued.
The research drilling is a collaborative project between OS, the National Energy Company (Landsvirkjun), Reykjavík Energy Company (OR), Sudurnes Energy Company (HS) and several scientific institutions.
The idea is to drill holes down to a depth of five kilometers where the energy companies expect to find heat of up to 600°C and much more pressure than in conventional drilling holes used for harnessing geothermal energy, which are usually about two kilometers deep.
It is hoped that each hole can produce five to ten times more energy than conventional drilling holes.
A skeleton from a person who suffered from the Paget’s disease of bone was unearthed this week during an archeological excavation project at Skriduklaustur in east Iceland, where a monastery was once operated.
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The human being will be on display for the first time in its natural environment in the Reykjavík Family Park and Zoo next weekend. Visitors can observe three men and one woman in a cage after 10 am on Saturday and Sunday.
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The formal Videy island swim took place yesterday and there were three participants, two men and one woman, Thórdís Hrönn Pálsdóttir, who is the first woman to participate in the Videy swim since 1959.
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The Environment Agency intends to investigate whether the Heath Protection Authority handled the situation in Eskifjördur, east Iceland, in the correct manner when contaminated water from a trawler was carried into the town’s drinking water system.
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The second issue of the print edition of Iceland Review 2010 has just been published. Entitled “Under the Volcano” the magazine dedicates 20 pages, words and pictures, to the volcanic eruption in Eyjafjallajökull glacier which made headlines all over the word. New subscribers will receive the book Puffins as a gift and all subscribers are part of a draw to win a trip to Iceland. Click here to subscribe to the magazine.
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REVIEWS
Hendrikka Waage is an accomplished jewellery designer whose first children’s book Rikka and Her Magic Ring in Iceland, takes readers on an enchanted and educational journey through the country. It’s beautifully illustrated and a good lesson in geography, but the plot could have been better thought through and the moral of the story is a bit too prominent.
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On the third day of the Eyjafjallajökull eruption we drove from Skógar to Hvolsvöllur in total darkness, a distance of 18 kilometers. It was frightening, the darkness being so impenetrable that we could hardly see out the windows of the car. We could see faint lights from the farm standing right next to the highway.
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Ásmundur Sveinsson is among the foremost Icelandic sculptors. The current exhibition in the Ásmundur Sveinsson Museum in Reykjavík is entitled “I choose women who thrive…” and features women as symbols in the sculptor’s art. The works in the exhibition are selected from his entire career.
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