I. Culture of Iceland -II. History of Geothermal TechnologyCulture of IcelandIceland, the northernmost country in Europe, is a Nordic island in the Atlantic Ocean bordering the Arctic Circle. It is one of the most geologically active places in the world and is home to numerous volcanoes, geysers and hot springs. Iceland has a total area of ​​39,770 square miles with Reykjavik as its capital and 2,796 square miles of water surface area. Their total population consists of approximately 317,593 people. (Aronson, 2010) Iceland is a constitutional republic; a state in which the head of state and other officials are representatives of the people and must govern according to existing constitutional law that limits the government's power over all its citizens. Iceland became a republic on June 17, 1944, when it declared full independence from Denmark. The Constitution gives municipalities the right to manage their own affairs. The Constitution also guarantees equality before the law regardless of sex, race and religion. Iceland's central government has an executive branch, a legislative branch, and a judicial branch. The executive branch consists of the president, who does not have much executive power; the head of government, or prime minister, who, together with the cabinet, holds the greatest executive power; and the cabinet, a body selected by parliament by the president or leaders of political parties within parliament. The president and parliament are elected by the people. Universal suffrage allows all residents aged 18 and over to vote for president and the Althingi. The president and members of Althingi remain in office for four years. (Aronson, 2010)Iceland's economy relies primarily on paper......Kroeker designed the first commercial geothermal heat pump to heat the Commonwealth Building in Portland, Oregon and demonstrated it in 1946. In 1960, Pacific Gas and Electric began operating the first successful geothermal power plant in the United States at The Geysers in California. The original turbine lasted more than 30 years and produced 11 MW of net power. The binary cycle power plant was first demonstrated in 1967 in the USSR and later introduced in the United States in 1981. This technology allows the generation of electricity from much lower temperature resources than previously. (Wikipedia, 2011) Works Cited Aronson, J. (2010, May). Our world: Iceland. Great Neck Publishing.Wikipedia.org. (2011, January 16). Geothermal energy. Retrieved from Wikipedia.org: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Geothermal_energy&oldid=408206929