Dissemination of geothermal knowledge has played a major
role in ISOR´s and
its forerunners activities for long time. It has contributed
considerably to the
great success of geothermal energy utilization in Iceland
where almost 90% of
houses are geothermal heated, about 17% of the electricity
and half of the
primary energy consumption is from geothermal.
Within Iceland, the dissemination activity of Iceland
GeoSurvey (ISOR) can be
divided into four groups. These are web-based activities,
use of mass media
and printed material, participation in meetings and teaching
activities. The web-
based dissemination include at least weekly update of news
from ISOR´s
activities and how it relates to the society in Iceland. The
mass media is aware
of the web page so a publication there sometimes leads to
further publications
in newspapers, radio or TV. The second web based activity
includes the
geological data viewer named “Gagnavefsja”. It is operated
in close co-
operation with the National Energy Authority (NEA) and
contains an open
internet access to large parts of NEA´s and ISOR´s data
bases on geology and
energy issues in Iceland. It is both in Icelandic and
English. Publications of
printed material, books and newspaper articles and
interviews are widely used
to make the public aware of the possibilities and importance
of geothermal in
our society. ISOR and NEA issued last year a comprehensive
book of the
history, technical aspects and development of the geothermal
sector in Iceland.
This book was last year appointed to the national price for
excellent books.
ISOR´s staff participates each year in numerous conferences
and open
meetings in local societies, clubs and organisations. ISOR
also has good
relation to universities and high schools were our experts
held courses and
give lectures.
Outside Iceland ISOR participates actively in dissemination
of geothermal
knowledge through education, development aid, participation
in international
organizations, meetings and conferences and publication of
scientific papers on
geothermal energy. In addition ISOR assist our ministries in
their dissemination
activities abroad. The most important activity is the United
Nations University
Geothermal Training Programme (UNU-GTP) which has been run
in Iceland since
1979. It is financed mainly by our ministry of foreign
affairs, run by NEA but
about 60% of all the training activities are provided by
ISOR. Yearly over 20
geothermal fellows from the developing countries participate
in a 6 month
intensive geothermal course in Iceland and 6-9 complete also
a 2 year MSc
studies in geothermal sciences. The UNU-GTP has been
extremely successful in
world-wide capacity building in the field geothermal. In
addition UNU-GTP has
recently started geothermal short courses for decision
makers in developing
counties with geothermal potential. Recently the Icelandic
international
development aid has started a geothermal dissemination
programme in Africa
and Central America where ISOR´s experts play significant
role. ISOR also
participates in international organisations where we use
every opportunity to
promote geothermal energy. These include IGA, EuroGeoSurvey,
IEA
geothermal implementing agreement, the ARGEO initiative and
participation in
the steering committee of the EU´s framework programmes.
Furthermore ISOR
is active in participations in geothermal conferences and
workshops worldwide
and last but not least ISOR is a minor shareholder in the
Icelandic company
Enex Ltd and assist it a lot with its geothermal promotion
activities.
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