I am most excited to see and experience the culture and geography in Iceland as well as the industrial side of how their geothermal power plants work. I’ve also been to Iceland previously in 2017, so it would also be interesting to see if anything has changed since I last saw it, like the glacier sizes or the towns. I also love the environment around Iceland like the waterfalls, volcanoes, rock structures, and glaciers. Going on this trip will be a great mix of engineering and history as we will explore the mechanical systems behind these geothermal power plants but also learn about the culture of Iceland and how they live. I think it’s very important to not only respect the natives of Iceland but to really listen to them and learn about the country and how it has developed throughout time.
This trip will help further my education at the University of Pittsburgh because it will teach me how to adapt to problems based on external factors and limitations. In engineering you have to be able to adapt to a problem and any limitations with it. Iceland can’t use the same power system as the United States or France because it has a very different topography and geographical landscape. The engineers there had to adapt to the environment while also ensuring that these power plants were sufficient energy sources for Iceland. I feel that learning about the history of Iceland will provide greater insight into why the engineers built structures and buildings the way they did and how they can even improve on them in the future. Sustainable energy is a big trend going into the future and Iceland has found a way to be one of the global leaders in green energy generation. Understanding how they can improve the green energy production will lead to us understanding how we can improve our own power plants back in America. We rely heavily on fossil fuels like oil, coal, and gas for our power plants. The United states gets about 38% of energy productions from petroleum, 36% from gas, and 9% from coal. These are all astonishingly high numbers even though green energy solutions are available. It’s hard to power large megacities in America like New York and Los Angeles off of green energy alone. But I think that by understanding the geothermal power plants in Iceland, we can try and implement those solutions back here in the United States. Learning how these engineers think will help me to understand how to think as a real engineer and not just a student at SSOE. Implementing real life experience into my studies will help me to better understand the principles that all engineers abide by.
Swanson School of Engineering 