The GREEN Program in Iceland: Sustainable Energy Solutions

A.J. Sauter and Meredith Raphelson How Iceland Helped Us Apply Sustainability to Our Careers

Education

● Faculty with Direct Experience in the Geothermal, Biofuel, Hydropower Fields Teaching Classes

● Access to Facilities of a Geothermal Plant, Hydropower Plant, and seeing How Biofuel is Produced

● “Hands On” Learning Opportunity

● Using the Environment as our Classroom

Adventure

Understanding what it is like to live in Iceland by:

● Experiencing the Northern Lights

● Snorkeling between the Tectonic Plates

● Super Jeeping● Connecting with

Native Icelanders

And Beyond!

● Making Lifelong Friends that share the same mindset of a Sustainable Future

● Directly applying the Program to Classes back at Drexel, Interviews, and Future Careers

Challenges of Sustainability vs. Renewable Energy

Challenge 1

Sustainability

Maintaining the conditions in which humans and nature live homeostatically to support current and future generations

Challenge 2

Renewable Energy

Energy that is produced by the collection of resources that can be generally replenished such as: wind, geothermal heat, sunlight, water (tides, rain, waves)

Challenge 3

Misconceptions

Renewable Energy does not necessarily mean it is sustainable

Too many people tie Renewable Energy with Sustainability

The Relationship of the Physical Earth and Sustainability

● Iceland provided me with the framework of knowledge at the beginning of my career

● The experiences I had in Iceland early on really gave me a leg up in understanding Geology

● Pictures can only show so much, experience has been key for my education

“The Present is the Key to the Past” - Charles Lyell

● The experiences of Iceland and my expanding knowledge have built a different mindset for Sustainability

● Understanding the foundation of Earth plays a key role in Sustainability

● The knowledge of the Earth today could help to understand the future

Sustainability in Power Systems Engineering

● The GREEN Program further developed my passion for renewable energy

● We took special tours through Iceland’s largest geothermal and hydroelectric power plants

● I shared my passion and ideas with 30 other students from around the world!

Wasted energy is not sustainable energy, and clean energy is not an excuse.

● Renewable energy is beautiful energy● My goal as an engineer is to develop renewable

energy as a solution to the energy crisis● Sustainable energy is active conservation of energy

Solution 1. More students need to get an opportunity like The GREEN Program

2. It will allow for more students to “care” about Sustainability

3. That’s our goal: Engage more Drexel students to get excited about and passionate about Sustainability and Renewable Energy!

Our future will be GREENER!Drexel’s Iceland GREEN Study Abroad, Winter 2015

And Just Like That Sustainable Thinking Exploded Into Our Careers

Thank you!