ICELAND'S HEATING PLAN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21716, 3 February 1934, Page 5 (Supplement)

ICELAND'S HEATING PLAN

It is not improbable that Britain will soon be depending for our earliestpeas and new potatoes on an island which lies on tho Arctic Circle, says a London newspaper. Twenty miles from -Reykjavik, capital of Iceland, there is a remarkable group oi geysers, for tho island, with Mount Hekla in its centre, is highly volcanic. These natural fountains throw up millions of gallons of scalding water in the course, of a year, and tho Government is building culvert and pumping stations to convey this water to the city. Churches, public buildings, and oven tho tiniest dwellings will soon be central-heated by this means. Thousands of greenhouses are planned in which the temperature irill be kept at a hitch point bv the same natural means. Early flowers, fruits, and vegetables will be forced, and as production will be cheap, it is expected that an export as well as a homo trade will-bo established. Street pumps from which water not much below boiling pomt can be drawn are also to be establisned, .