Word: iceland
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...best in its darkest and coldest moments, when its back alleys, mom-and-pop fishmongers and bite-size pubs tap into the charisma of one of Europe's most storied neighborhoods. Indeed, 101 has been the muse for a generation of artists that love to hate Iceland's six-month winters - among them director Baltasar Kormákur, whose film 101 Reykjavík was based on Hallgrímur Helgason's 1996 novel of the same name...
...seeking to capture Australia's underground heat, it aims to be the first to prove that deep-earth geothermal power is commercially viable. Geothermal is already a bit player in the power business: underground water heated by volcanoes is already used for heating and electricity generation in countries like Iceland and New Zealand. But supplies of natural hot water are limited. The new push is to mimic nature by creating artificial water-heating systems using hot subterranean granites. The resource is potentially endless: while each patch of rock will cool as its energy is drawn off, it will heat...
...Iceland carefully monitors its seismic activity, as well it ought to, for this isolated nation of just over 300,000 makes its home on a piece of volcanic rock that is among the most unpredictable pieces of land on the planet. Above the Earth's crust, its cosmopolitan and wealthy population shops for Land Rovers and new condos, while beneath the ground, magma chambers churn, occasionally rising to the surface with varying degrees of destruction. Iceland straddles the mid-Atlantic ridge, where the Eurasian and North American plates are slowly drifting apart. Unlike locations where parts of the earth grind...
...Modern Iceland has been remarkably lucky in the face of its unpredictable geography. Past centuries may have seen catastrophic natural disasters, but the worst in the nation's recent history was a series of avalanches in the 1990s that killed over 30 people. But if the hundreds of volunteers, the dozens of converted emergency 4x4s, the strategic maps and the shelter tents seem like overkill in response to the day's minor toll, they also reflect the fragility and communal sense of responsibility fostered by Iceland's isolation. Since the U.S. military pulled out in 2006, Icelanders take the manifestations...
Despite these strong fundamentals, Iceland has undoubtedly lost some steam - and importers feel it the worst. Úlfar Steindórsson, CEO of Toyota Iceland, says that the depreciated krona raised the price of imported cars by 25% in just a matter of weeks, bringing his booming sales to a standstill. He now predicts year-on-year revenues will end 30% lower. But Steindórsson doesn't blame the government or Iceland's banks. "The crisis didn't start in Iceland - it started in the U.S.," he says. As he sees it, the international dimension of the credit crunch...