The closing plenary session of Iceland’s two-day Geothermal Conference provided a venue for excellent presentations by an American scientist, the EU Commissioner for Energy, and the President of Iceland. The first keynote speech was by Dr. Jeffery Tester, Professor of Sustainable Energy and Director of the Cornell Energy Institute, who gave a compelling presentation that detailed the enormous potential that geothermal energy offers the United States and challenged our government to do more to take advantage of that resource. Our representative from the Department of Energy took copious notes of Professor Tester’s comments. The second keynote speech was by Gunther Oettinger, EU Commissioner responsible for Energy, who recognized the potential for geothermal energy and presented plans for using it in Europe. The final presentation was made by President Grimsson, who eloquently described the challenges posed by global warming and his vision of how Iceland’s green economy can serve as a model to the rest of the world. There is little doubt that Iceland’s stature as a world class leader in the use and development of geothermal technologies was reinforced by a very successful conference attended by scientists, government officials, and private sector firms from all over the world.
