Iceland

Iceland (ⁱ/ˈaɪslænd/; Icelandic: Ísland [ˈistlant]), also called the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic island country between the North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean. It has a population of 329,100 and an area of 103,000 km² (40,000 sq mi), making it the most sparsely populated country in Europe. The capital and largest city is Reykjavík. Reykjavík and the surrounding areas in the southwest of the country are home to over two-thirds of the population. Iceland is volcanically and geologically active. The interior consists of a plateau characterised by sand and lava fields, mountains and glaciers, while many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands. Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a temperate climate, despite a high latitude just outside the Arctic Circle. Its high latitude and marine influence still keeps summers chilly, with most of the archipelago having a tundra climate.

According to Landnámabók, the settlement of Iceland began in the year 874 when the Norwegian chieftain Ingólfr Arnarson became the first permanent settler on the island. In the following centuries, mainly Norwegians and to a smaller extent other Scandinavians settled Iceland, bringing with them thralls of Gaelic origin. From 1262 to 1814, Iceland was ruled by Norway and afterwards by Denmark. Until the 20th century, the country relied largely on fishing and agriculture. Iceland became independent in 1918 and a republic in 1944. Industrialisation of the fisheries and Marshall Plan aid following World War II brought prosperity and Iceland became one of the wealthiest and most developed nations in the world. In 1994, it became a part of the European Economic Area, which supported diversification into economic and financial services.

Alterra Power

Alterra Power Corp. is a diversified renewable power generation company based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was formed in 2011 through the merger of Magma Energy Corp. and Plutonic Power Corp. It develops geothermal, hydroelectric, wind, and solar energy projects. The company is listed under AXY on the Toronto Stock Exchange, and has a secondary listing OTC in the USA under MGMXF:US.

Merger

On 7 March 2011, it was announced that Magma Energy and Plutonic Power would merge to create Alterra Power Corp. Magma Energy was renamed Alterra Power and each shareholder of Plutonic Power received 2.38 shares of Magma for each Plutonic share held. As a result, the merged company owns two geothermal power plants in Iceland, and one in Nevada, one run of river hydro plant and one wind farm in British Columbia and an option on a solar project in Ontario. Executive Chairman of Alterra Power is Ross Beaty (founder of Magma Energy) and the CEO is John Carson.

Power plants

Expansion projects

Earth sheltering

Earth sheltering is the architectural practice of using earth against building walls for external thermal mass, to reduce heat loss, and to easily maintain a steady indoor air temperature. Earth sheltering has become relatively more popular in modern times, especially among environmentalists and advocates of passive solar and sustainable architecture. However, the practice has been around for nearly as long as humans have been constructing their own shelters.

Definition

The expression earth-sheltering is a generic term, with the general meaning: building design in which soil plays an integral part.

A building can be described as earth-sheltered if its external envelope is in contact with a thermally significant volume of soil or substrate (where “thermally significant” means making a functional contribution to the thermal effectiveness of the building in question.)

Earth-sheltered buildings consist of one or more of three types: earth-covered, earth-bunded, and subterranean. An earth-covered building is one where the thermally effective element is placed solely on the roof, but is more usually a continuation of the earth-bunding at the unexposed elevations of the building. An earth-bunded building is one where the thermally significant element insulates one or more of the sheltered elevations of the building. The bunding can be partial or total. A subterranean building is one where the thermally significant element insulates all elevations of the building, leaving only the roof exposed; or, if the building is built into an incline, it may be that the roof is covered and only one elevation is left exposed.

For Sale

For Sale may refer to:

Film

Music

See also

Papaver nudicaule

Papaver nudicaule (syn. Papaver croceum, P. miyabeanum,P. amurense, and P. macounii), the Iceland poppy, is a boreal flowering plant. Native to subpolar regions of Europe, Asia and North America, and the mountains of Central Asia (but not in Iceland), Iceland poppies are hardy but short-lived perennials, often grown as biennials, that yield large, papery, bowl-shaped, lightly fragrant flowers supported by hairy, one foot, curved stems among feathery blue-green foliage 1-6 inches long. They were first described by botanists in 1759. The wild species blooms in white or yellow, and is hardy from USDA Zones 3a-10b. All parts of this plant are likely to be poisonous, containing (like all poppies) toxic alkaloids. In particular, P. nudicaule has been shown to contain the benzophenanthidine alkaloid, chelidonine. It also contains (+)-amurine, (-)-amurensinine, (-)-O-methylthalisopavine, (-)-flavinantine and (-)-amurensine.

Varieties

Cultivars come in shades of yellow, orange, salmon, rose, pink, cream and white as well as bi-colored varieties. Seed strains include: ‘Champagne Bubbles’ (15-inch plants in orange, pink, scarlet, apricot, yellow, and creamy-white); ‘Wonderland’ (10-inch dwarf strain with flowers up to 4 inches wide); ‘Flamenco’ (pink shades, bordered white, 1½ to 2 feet tall); ‘Party Fun’ (to 1 foot, said to bloom reliably the first year in autumn and the second spring); ‘Illumination’ and ‘Meadow Pastels’ (to 2 feet, perhaps the tallest strains); ‘Matador’ (scarlet flowers to 5 inches across on 16 inch plants); the perennial 'Victory Giants' with red petals and ‘Oregon Rainbows’, which has large selfed, bicolor, and picoteed flowers and is perhaps the best strain for the cool Pacific Northwest (elsewhere this strain’s buds frequently fail to open).