[Zac imitating David Attenborough] Energy.Here on this strange world,
it is all around us.
It boils just under the surface of this black, rocky terrain.
When this bizarre planet hurtles through the galaxy at such a fast rate,
it causes a great force to flow.
And that force is with us always.
[Zac] The force is all around us.
[Zac] No, this is planet Earth.
And I'm still on it...
Hi!
[Zac] Chilling.
[Darin laughing] Hey, Zac!
How's it going over there?
[Zac] It's kind of chilly. How is it over there?
It's kinda nice!
[Zac laughing]
[Zac] But this isn't just anywhere on Earth.
We're on a small Nordic island,
where 100% of the electricity comes from a renewable energy source...
produced by heat from volcanic activity under the surface
and the force from the magnificent cascading waterfalls.
We're gonna see firsthand how these incredible natural and renewable forces
are harnessed and used for power.
And try out some of the local flavors along the way.
This is Iceland.
Let me start at the beginning.
A few years ago, I met Darin.
-I can't feel my feet or my hands. -I'm proud of you, bro.
Yeah.
[Zac] He's a guru of healthy living and superfoods.
Yes, great. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it.
[Zac] You could say he wrote the book on the subject. Literally.
[Darin] A healthy lifestyle, solid principles.
Darin and I are traveling around the world to find some new perspectives
on some very old problems.
[Darin] That's Mother Earth, bro.
Searching for healthy, sustainable living solutions for the planet...
[Zac] Wow.
[Zac] ...and all who live on it.
Woo-hoo!
Ignore the crazy white guy.
[Zac] And hey, you gotta eat too, right?
You don't have to eat it.
-How does it move like that? -[woman] Oh, my God. [laughing]
[Zac] It's time to get... Down to Earth.
Trippy.
[Zac] One of the most unique things about Iceland
is that there are extreme geothermal activities going on underneath your feet
throughout the entire country.
The combination of volcanic activity and cold climate
has earned Iceland the nickname "Land of Fire and Ice."
But this one is good.
Is it rolling? It is rolling.
[Zac] We're in south Iceland on the Reykjanes Peninsula, headed east.
On the far side of this scenic lake lies a small village called Laugarvatn.
On the edge of town, built on the coast, is a geothermal wellness center.
And this is our new friend Siggy.
-[Siggy] Perfect view! -[Darin] Wow.
Across the lake, we have the most active volcano in Iceland.
When it's erupting, you know, it can be nice to be here in the hot tub
and enjoy a nice volcano.
[Zac] Do you do that? Has that happened?
-Absolutely. Yeah. -Really?
-You're just watching the volcano go off. -When I was growing up,
I was just in my living room at home, you know, watching the volcano.
-Having a popcorn. -[Darin] Really?
-Wow. -[Darin] You're from this village?
[Siggy] Yeah, born and raised.
Hekla tends to go just about every ten years.
-[Darin] Wow. -It has now been, I think, 17 years.
Ooh!
-So it's gonna be a big one. -It's due anytime.
-Maybe tonight! -Maybe tonight.
[Zac] But that's not why we're here.
We have a fantastic tradition, baking a rye bread in the springs outside.
The sands are boiling...
-[Darin] The sands are boiling? -Yeah.
You're gonna bake bread in the sand?
-Right. -[Zac] How does that...
-Wow. -I'm very curious to see how this works.
-[Siggy] We can do this in minus 20. -[Darin] Wow!
This is what my grandma was doing, my mom was doing, and--
[Zac] Really?
So over here we have the ingredients for this rye bread.
-You wanna do the honors? -I could do it.
-Yeah, sure. -[Darin] We're going.
[Siggy] Yeah, it's like five cups of rye.
Then we have the flour.
You know, you're starting to bake bread, in Iceland, next to...
-Next to a volcano. -[Darin] ...a lake.
Yeah, this is the craziest thing ever.
[Siggy] Yeah, two cups of sugar.
Baking powder, yeah.
So we have one liter of milk.
[Darin] It's a retirement plan, Zac.
Always have a fallback. In this...
-.001% of people make it in this industry. -Exactly.
[Darin] A loaf business in your back pocket is a really good plan.
I don't even need an oven.
You do not need an oven.
[Zac] How am I gonna make it in there?
Oh, boy. Oh, boy.
-[Zac] I didn't get all of it. -[Siggy chuckles] Yeah.
-Straight in. -[Darin] I wanna taste it.
[Zac] No way!
All right!
-Oh, yeah. -[Siggy chuckling]
-That's good. -Did you forget that was in there?
-Yeah, well. A little bit. -[Zac laughing mockingly]
-[Darin] Oh, now what? -[Siggy] Yeah, just so the...
The hot spring water doesn't get inside of it.
That's how close the water is gonna get to it.
-Abso... Absolutely. -[Zac] Wow.
-And we're good to go. -[Darin] Wow. It's like the easiest ever.
-[Siggy] Underneath it here... -[Darin] It's literally steaming... sand.
-[Zac] Whoa! -[Darin] Whoa, look at that!
-[Zac] Wow. -[Darin] So, literally, this is the oven.
[Siggy] Yeah, we put down bread in this oven...
-[Darin] Whoa, that's warm. -...same time yesterday.
So we'll try one that you put in 24 hours ago,
-and then put in some for the next. -Right.
-[Siggy] You wanna do the honors? -Yes, please. I'd love to.
[Darin] Oh, wow.
-[Siggy] Scratch it there, right? -[Darin] What's the temperature?
[Siggy] It's about boiling. In Celsius, it's about 95.
-And that's it? -That's it.
-Is it super hot? -Yeah, it's best to...
[Siggy] Yeah, you can see... this.
-[Darin] Wow. -You know--
[Zac] My feet are hot right now. [laughing]
[Siggy] This bread actually tastes great with, like, smoked trout and egg.
So first we're gonna...
cook the eggs.
-[Zac] Are you gonna get some eggs? -Yeah!
[Zac] All right!
[Darin] Wow.
Yeah, 13 minutes is good.
Just like a regular...
But you don't know how long it takes to boil an egg, do you?
-I don't. -[Zac laughing]
[Siggy] But while the eggs are cooking, why don't we look inside?
[Zac] Yeah. I just didn't want to touch it 'cause I thought it was hot.
It's quite hot, actually.
[all laughing]
It is quite hot?
It is quite hot.
[Zac laughing]
I'm just kind of waiting for you.
[Siggy groans] OK.
-Well, there you have it. -[Zac] Whoa, cool!
-So, you can just pull it off? -Yeah.
-[Zac] Oh, it smells unbelievable. -[Darin] Wow!
-[Zac sniffs] -Holy cow.
-Can I take some? -Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Oh, my God.
Yeah, it is... it's definitely hot!
[mumbling] How are you holding that?
This is wonderful bread.
Yeah, a lot of guests say it's more like a cake or something.
Yeah, it tastes like a... It's almost like chocolate cake.
-[Darin] Hold on. -Man, that's great.
[Zac] There he goes again.
Not that I can talk.
-[Darin] Wow. -[Zac] This is the best bread.
-That's really good. -[man] Hey, Zac! Save some for the crew.
-[mumbling] Aw, I ate it all. -[Siggy laughing]
[mumbling] Well, how would I feed it to Corey?
[all laughing]
-Hey, Corey, you want [bleep]? -[all laughing]
[Zac] The crew can dig up their own loaf.
In about 24 hours.
Behind you here, we have the big hot spring.
[Darin] Yeah.
And we use this one to heat up all the houses in the village.
We heat up the pavement, so we don't have to shovel the snow all winter.
-[Zac] Really? -So we just, you know, we...
-[Darin laughing] That's awesome. -We use it in any way we can.
[Darin] You just have to live with volcanoes.
[Siggy] Yeah.
[Darin laughing]
[Siggy] All right.
-Cover up the boiling pit. -Right.
[Darin laughing]
It's gotta be the weirdest phenomena. You're just walking along, like,
"It's really hot right here."
"Is that hot?" "Yeah, it's boiling, so..." [laughing]
Now we pop this out right here.
[Zac] Perfect!
-[Siggy] The texture of it. -[Zac] Look at that.
[Darin] There you go. Butter it up, baby.
-[Zac] That's good. -Smoked trout... from the lake.
-That's smoked trout? -Yeah.
[Darin and Zac chuckling]
[Zac] This looks so good.
-Breakfast is served! -[Zac] Is this for me? Aw, thank you!
-It's good. -A little fiber.
Mmm!
[Zac mumbling] Oh, man. That's so good.
All right, who else wants to try this?
Corey, you wanna try some?
[all laughing]
[Siggy] There's plenty for everyone!
[Zac] Michael, come on.
[all laughing]
It's very good. It's very... There's a lot going on.
-[Zac] Yeah, it's very complex. -[all laughing]
-Beautiful! Yeah! -Unreal!
[Zac] Thank you. That was very good.
Oh, yeah.
[Zac] We're headed west, to the southern peninsula region of the island.
-Look at that. Oh, my God. -[Zac] The terrain looks so exotic,
it's easy to forget that this is Earth.
[Zac] Yeah, this is cool. This looks like Mordor.
[Darin, as Gollum] Give me the precious.
No, it's... Sméagol, it's mine. I said it's mine.
And don't call it... your precious, OK? I'm uncomfortable right now.
-[laughing] -Let go of it. It's not yours.
[as Gollum] Oh, I love to touch it.
-Oh, yes. -[guffaws]
[Zac] But while it looks cool,
it's what's going on underneath the surface
that makes this area so unique.
For it's right here that two of the great continents meet.
"Bridge between two continents."
Whoa.There's an English side.
I was just staring at the picture for a good ten seconds.
-Oh, "bridge between continents." -Yeah.
-There you go. -All caps up top, there it is.
So we got... two tectonic plates.
[Zac] Oh, that makes sense.
[Zac laughing]
[Zac] Plate tectonics is the theory that our planet's surface is broken up
into several rigid sections of thick rock.
There's roughly seven major plates that make up the continents...
and many minor plates that fill up the rest of the Earth's crust.
[Zac sighs]
[Zac] Whoa!
[Zac] These are the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates,
and they're constantly spreading apart from each other
at a rate of about two and a half centimeters per year.
May not seem like much, but over millions of years...
you get the picture.
We gotta see which side feels better.
-Yeah, I wanna go home anyway. -[Darin laughing]
[Darin] So I'll stay here on this continent,
and you go to the other continent.
[Zac] This bridge allows us to walk from one moving tectonic plate
all the way to the other... which is weird, if you think about it.
Darin promises me it's safe, as he sends me across the bridge.
This is so wild.
[Darin laughing]
[shouting] Hey, how's it feel in the North American continent?
[Zac] It's kinda chilly. How's it over there?
It's kinda nice!
[Darin] I like the European vibe.
[wind blowing]
[both laughing]
-[Zac] I'm gonna come back over. -Are you...
Yeah, I'm done with America.
[Zac] The friction from the shifting plates releases magma,
which causes an incredible amount of heat to be released
and work its way up to the surface.
This is the catalyst to geothermal energy.
[Darin] Hey, don't spit!
[Zac laughing]
[Zac] You read my mind.
[Darin] I can't choose!
[Zac laughing]
[Darin] Hey, you know, it's... fricking freezing out.
We gotta see if we can find some...
Some geothermal warmth...
-at this plant. Somewhere. -[Zac] Yeah.
[Zac] OK, so we understand where all this heat comes from.
It's time to see how it's harnessed.
[Darin] There it is.
This is one of four geothermal plants in Iceland.
Sick.
-[Darin] That is a building, right there. -[Zac] Wow. For sure.
-Investigative powers. -Absolutely. Activate. That's great.
[both laughing]
[Zac] To explain this process from beginning to end,
we're meeting Marta, the managing director of Natural Resources,
and Sandra, the plant's geologist.
[Marta] Here's where we convert the geothermal energy
into useful electricity.
And we have pipelines connecting each field towards here.
-[Zac] They all feed into this... thing? -[Marta] This.
Yeah.
[Zac] The facility's big.
It spans over three square miles.
To date, there are 64 bore holes,
each drilled almost a mile deep into the ground.
That's about a 500-story building, or...
four and a quarter Empire State Buildings.
That's deep.
But where does the electricity come into it?
-How do... 'Cause you have steam. -Mm-hmm.
And then steam's essentially pouring into this.
How does it convert?
You have big rotors and rotor blades.
So the steam enters the turbine, and then it starts to rotate.
-OK. -And then,
you can turn the rotation into electricity.
-Wow. -That turbine is here in the middle.
So that's just one massive turbine that's spinning?
-[Marta] Yeah, 45 megawatts per turbine. -Wow.
-Forty-five megawatts! -Yeah.
[Zac] Forty-five megawatts can run 45,000 homes.
Yeah, that's a lot of energy coming out of just one steam-powered turbine.
[Marta] But also we get water coming up from the well.
And the water we use to heat up fresh water,
-which we need a lot of all year round. -Wow.
So, my dad works at a nuclear power plant.
And whenever you're generating any form of electricity or power,
-there's always some sort of harmful side. -Yeah.
Are there any downsides to producing energy this way?
Um... Of course there are always some downsides.
The magma contains CO2 and also hydrogen sulfide.
But this plant makes about 3% of what it would emit
if it was run by fossil fuel.
[Darin] Wow.
[Zac] Fossil fuel plants include coal, petroleum, natural gas, and others,
and in 2017,
fossil fuels accounted for 63% of the United States' electricity production.
Sixty-three versus zero? [scoffs]
We definitely have a long way to go.
Here at this plant, we are taking...
uh... most of the gases and...
re-injecting them into the rock, where it mineralizes, so it forms rocks.
-You actually create more rocks from... -Within the rocks, yeah.
-Do you wanna see it? -Absolutely.
Yeah, for sure.
[Darin] Right.
[Zac] Whoa, cool.
Sweet. I wonder why that's there.
Hmm. Guess I'll never know.
-[Darin] Wow. Yeah. -[Marta] It's quite magnificent to see.
[Darin] How cool is this?
-[Zac] So cool. -[Darin] Just plug in your car
-with the power that's here. -[Marta] Utilizing what nature gives you.
Wow, this is really... looks, like, apocalyptic, a little bit.
-It's kind of intense, huh? -Yeah, it's crazy.
[Sandra] I've been working in this field for more than ten years,
but I still haven't gotten used to it.
[Zac] Whoa, look at that!
[Darin] [bleep] hell!
-Dude. -Oh, my God!
-[Zac] This is like Jurassic Park. -[Darin] That's Mother Earth, bro.
[Darin] That's some power.
[Zac] There's something else going on here.
There is something else. What are you guys really doing with the energy?
[Darin] Where's the aircrafts? Where are the UFOs?
Where's the elves?
Exactly.
Ready?
Yeah.
[steam roaring]
[Zac] Since you can't hear us, here's what you're missing.
That crazy tower of steam is their latest drill site.
And that was just finished the night before.
Eventually, that will all be harnessed and sent back to the facility.
[Zac shouting] That's intense!
[Zac] This is so powerful, the ground is literally shaking.
[steam roaring]
[Sandra] These are bore hole houses.
So inside each and every house, down beneath, there's a very deep drill.
-[Darin] This is where you inject the CO2? -[Sandra] Yeah.
-[Darin] Wow. -[Sandra] Mm-hmm.
[Sandra] Here we inject the gases that we capture into the well
that reaches about 2,000 meters down.
[Zac] As the steam turns the turbines,
the waste CO2 is collected, diluted in water,
and then piped deep back into the Earth.
There, it chemically fuses to the porous volcanic rock
below the Earth's surface and solidifies,
so it never gets a chance to harm the atmosphere.
[Sandra] So this is how it looks like down there.
As you can see, there are lots of pores in the rock.
So it's kind of like a sponge.
-Wow. -And here you can see...
like, what we are making out of the gases.
So this is actually...
-[Zac] Gold? -[laughs] ...mineralized hydrogen sulfide.
So, fool's gold. [laughing]
It makes fool's gold.
Then, this is the mineralized CO2.
Oh, really?
-[Zac] So it's calcified? -It's calcified!
[Zac] Cool!
[Zac] This is crazy.
Fake diamond and fool's gold.
Oh, yeah. [Sandra laughs]
This is actually a method that has been developed here
and this is something that could be done elsewhere.
-Right. -So we hope that this will contribute
to the fight against climate change.
This could be an answer for many industries
around the world that have excess CO2.
-Oh, yeah. -[Darin] Let's get that out there, man.
-[Zac] Can't wait to tell the world! -[Sandra] Thank you, guys.
[Zac] Apparently, I'm not a Viking
until I do a fire and ice massage back at the hotel.
I've been told that there's no better way to relax than...
Here's the Viking challenge.
If you want to be a real Icelandic Viking,
you have to go in here, into the cold tub,
and then you can go a little bit into the hot one.
-[Darin] Awesome. -[Zac] Wait... what are we doing?
-Start with the cold? -[woman] Yes.
-[woman chuckles] -This looks great.
-[woman chuckling] -That is cold.
Is it cold?
[inhales deeply, exhales]
[Darin inhaling deeply]
[Zac] Fifteen seconds.
[laughing]
Just came to cheer you on.
-Yeah! -[woman] Woo!
That's Darin! Darin is Viking!
-[woman chuckling] -Da-da!
Well done.
-I'm just going to get in the hot one. -Oh, come on!
It's cold! It's cold as [bleep].
[Darin] Come on.
[woman] I recommend doing it. It's very good for you.
[Darin] Get in there. Don't make me force you.
Peer pressure, at its worst.
[chuckling]
Don't have to do this.
[grunts]
-[Darin laughing] -Screw you.
[groans, grunts]
[Darin] It's all in the breath.
[laughing]
I'm compartmentalizing the pain.
I'm proud of you, bro. Yeah!
[Darin] Uh-huh. It's the initiation!
-[Zac exhales sharply] -Five seconds.
I can't feel my feet or my hands.
[Darin laughing]
-[Zac exhales] Hoo-hoo-hoo! -[Darin] Good job.
-Ow, now it burns! Oh, jeez! -[Darin laughing]
So, are you ready for your treatment now?
-[Darin] Absolutely. -Excellent.
You... You go back in the ice.
[Zac laughing]
Now we got, uh...
-hot stones, cold stones? -[woman] Yes.
[Zac] The treatment uses hot and cold stones,
called thermotherapy and cryotherapy.
And it works like this.
[Zac groans]
[Zac] The hot stones relax the muscles, creating higher oxygenation levels.
After that, the cold stones are applied to then reduce inflammation and pain
by constricting the blood vessels, causing an increase in circulation.
[woman] Just take a deep breath.
[Zac] Jeez, that's freezing!
[Darin and woman laughing]
[Zac] Being a Viking has never felt so good.
Darin says he's planned something fun.
I'm afraid to find out what that is.
[Darin] Chocolate shop.
[Zac] Wait, chocolate? [scoffs]
Sick artwork.
[Zac] Yes, that is fun.
-Hi! Welcome to Omnom. -[Zac] Hey.
[Darin] Thank you.
[Zac] Omnom is a local company that does chocolate right.
[Kjartan] We source our own cocoa beans and do everything from scratch.
[Zac] The milk and sea salt are all locally sourced,
and the cacao beans are fair trade, sustainably sourced,
and roasted right here on the premises.
I feel like we got the Golden Ticket.
[Kjartan] You guys wanna see how we make it?
[Darin] Absolutely.
[Zac] They have some of the most unique blends of flavors and ingredients
mixed into their chocolate bars that I've ever seen.
And now, we get a chance to create our own custom bars.
-[Zac] It's backwards. It says "Monmo." -[Darin] Oh, yeah.
-[Zac] All right, suited and booted. -Cool. Let's go make some chocolate.
[Zac] Time for me to go Oompa Loompa.
[Kjartan] See in the grinder.
Wow, dude, that looks gnarly. If you stuck your hand in there...
-[exaggerating] Argh! -[Darin laughing]
I got a bowl for you. I got some chocolate running. Let's go get some.
Chocolate running? Oh, whoa.
[Kjartan] So we got a dark chocolate, licorice chocolate, and black and burnt.
Man...
[Zac] That is thick!
You could never have a river of this.
This is dark chocolate, so we need to cool it down.
Pour around two-thirds directly here on the table.
-[Darin] Oh, yeah! -[Zac] That is dense.
Perfect. Basically, you're just gonna be moving it back and forth.
[Zac] Move it back and forth? How do you move...
[Kjartan] So just kind of like push it.
And you need to move fast.
-Oh, really? -New to that.
-You gotta move, Zac, you gotta move. -[Zac] I don't really know how.
It's getting further and further away. [laughing]
[Kjartan] Now direct the flow directly into the bowl again.
[Zac] In one go?
[Kjartan] Just create like this kind of river and try to follow to grab it.
Oops! [Zac laughs]
[Zac] Five-second rule.
-Let's see where we're at. -Whoa.
-[Zac] That's so good. -We're ready to mold it.
-Oopsy. -Really.
I'll be over here.
[Kjartan] We have some popped organic Icelandic barley.
[Darin] Oh, beautiful.
We have salted almond with some Icelandic seawater
that we use to salt the almonds.
Some of the cocoa nibs, and these are kind of like rum and rais...
-Green raisins from Spain. -[Zac] Wow.
And now, it's ready for your first try.
[Darin] Oh, yeah.
-So you make whatever you want here? -[Kjartan] Yep.
[Zac] I'm definitely adding these.
Licorice. I'll try Arctic thyme.
[Zac] You can't possibly mess up chocolate.
So, unlike Darin, I'm gonna go for it...
big time.
Playing with the flavors and then the nutrients on top of it...
-It's just wonderful to... -Yeah.
-Why would you put that on anything? -What was that?
[Zac] Ugh!
Try the birch... [sniffs] smoked salt. It's delicious.
[chuckles]
-[Kjartan] Like kids at a candy store. -[Darin] This is the best.
[Zac] Yep, I used everything.
Nailed it!
You know what they say, "Oompa Loompa doopity doo."
[Kjartan] Ready to taste chocolate?
-OK. -Yeah. Rhetorical question.
[Kjartan] I got some varieties for you.
This is just called Coffee and Milk.
Instead of cocoa bean, we put coffee beans. So...
-Which is kind of weird. -Wow.
-That's one of the coolest things ever. -Yeah?
Oh, man, that's amazing. And you developed that flavor or...?
-Yeah. This is something we do. -Dude, well done.
-You can't really lose, can you? -Right.
You can't really... That's really cool.
-Thank you. -Love your work.
-Thank you. -Very, very well done.
-Zac, this is yours. Darin, here's yours. -All right.
Mine's thick.
It looks like a professional made this.
[Darin] Look at...
[Zac laughing]
-[Darin] Wanna try? -[Kjartan] Yeah, please.
[Darin] Hey, by the way...
[Zac] Wow...
[Zac] Um...
Mine sucks.
...stuff anywhere around the world.
His bar is good.
Stick with his bar.
-You OK? -[Zac] No, it's all right.
-[all laughing] -But after your professional tasting...
-Mm, it's gonna take me a couple minutes. -Oh, yeah.
Mine's too sweet.
And weird. I used a weird salt.
[all laughing]
[Darin] That's like your mind right there. It's, like, a lot going on.
[Zac] Too much?
[Zac] Oh, man. [clears throat] Wow, you can easily go wrong!
[Zac] What did I do? Just way too many ideas going on.
-Yeah, don't... Don't hire Zac. -Oh!
Hey, you gotta fail before you succeed.
[Zac] Thanks, Darin.
Who knew failing could taste so bad?
[Zac] Man, I'm so lit on chocolate right now.
I'd love to buy some for my friends and family.
-[Kjartan] What do you want? -[Zac] Uh...
[Zac] I'll err with your chocolate creation over mine.
-[Zac] Great. Thank you so much. -Thank you so much for coming by.
[Zac] So stoked that chocolate's a superfood.
-[Darin] Yeah, it is. -Unreal.
[Zac] Now we're driving east to visit Iceland's most popular tourist attraction.
And although I enjoy those things off the beaten path,
sometimes the most popular sites are famous for a reason.
[Zac] We're here. This is it.
Oh, nice.
Oh, look at that. You already see the vapor.
[Darin] Look at that mountain in the back. Holy [bleep]!
Can you make sure I'm all twisted up here?
Hey, have you met my friend, Kris Kringle?
[Zac] Ho-ho-ho!
And I brought presents.
[Darin] Ho-ho-ho-ho!
[deep voice] Have you seen my reindeer?
Have you seen my cookies?
-Ho-ho-ho! -Ho-ho-ho!
[both laughing]
Wow, that's a waterfall, man.
[Zac] Whoa, man, look at that.
[Darin] Wow!
-[Zac] Ho-ho-ho. -Holy [bleep].
[man] You got to be careful.
This is actually a cliff zone right here.
-[Darin] Oh, yeah? -[Zac] Oh, OK.
[Zac] Oh, this guy works here? Cool. So he's gonna be full of information.
[Zac] Whoa-ho-ho!
-[man] Yeah, so this is Gullfoss. -[Darin chuckling]
-[Zac] My gosh! -[Darin] It's mesmerizing.
[Darin] It hardly seems real.
[man] Uh, it's about 30 meters high.
[man] Um...
[Zac] Uh...
Right.
You said this is one of the biggest tourist attractions... in Iceland?
-[man] Yep. Yeah. -How many tourists a year is that?
I'm sorry, I don't have the figures, but... but, uh...
Um...
-I would imagine that... -[Zac] It's a lot.
It's a lot.
[man] Uh...
[Zac] Huh.
Well, according to a quick Internet search, in 2017,
roughly 1,340,000 people visited Gullfoss.
[Darin] How many gallons of water do you think comes through here?
Well, I don't speak in gallons, so...
-[Darin] Oh, yeah. Liters? -[laughs]
[man] I... I don't know.
[man] Uh...
[Zac] It turns out the answer is
about 37,000 gallons per second in the summer
and about 21,000 gallons per second in the winter.
Give or take a few gallons.
[Darin] How many waterfalls are there?
We have endless numbers of waterfalls here.
[man] Um...
I mean, in every shape and size.
I mean, we, uh... we have a lot of water. Basically.
[Zac] I don't think this guy really works here.
There are over 10,000 waterfalls
of all shapes and sizes throughout Iceland.
[Darin] How long have you been a ranger here?
Not so long. Just, uh... started this summer.
[Zac] Ah. OK, that explains it.
[man] There were plans here of damming this thing.
[Darin] Oh, really?
Yeah, in the beginning of the 20th century,
there was an Englishman who wanted to buy the land in order to dam it.
One of the owners, his daughter worked so hard,
like day and night, to protect this waterfall
-so that it wouldn't become-- -To stop it from being a hydro plant.
[man] Yeah, she just raised awareness
that the waterfall in itself is actually...
valuable.
[Zac] Icelanders try to keep a balance between damming waterfalls for energy
and also keeping them untouched for beauty.
With 10,000-plus waterfalls and just ten hydroelectric plants,
it feels like a pretty good ratio so far.
And one more thing:
water in motion produces negative ions, which are known to relieve stress,
reduce tension, fight depression, and increase energy.
In short, all these negative ions are creating some very positive vibes.
[Zac] This whole town just makes me wanna go...
[Darin] Woo-hoo!
[Zac laughing]
[Zac] We're traveling west
to see the oldest power station on the River Sog.
And we're going to see firsthand how the hydropower process works!
[Zac] Wow!
[Zac] This is Ljósafoss Power Station,
one of 15 hydropower stations that all together generate 75%
of Iceland's electricity.
And Oli right here is gonna show us how that's possible.
[Darin] I love places like this.
[Zac] Oh, guys, you gotta get this one. This is amazing.
[Zac] Here they have some interactive examples of how force generates power.
[Darin] I'm gonna be sweating.
[Zac] Much like water and geothermal,
we can use our own force to create power and then store that power for later use.
OK, now it's full.
[Zac] Got in a quick workout
and generated enough stored energy to run a gaming system.
All right.
-[Darin] We could play for 18 seconds? -Eighteen seconds.
[Zac] After all that?
[Zac] All that work for 18 seconds of gameplay?
I think I'll let the water do the work instead.
Maybe I'll be able to create more power with this one.
[Zac] I should be better at this.
So you have enough force to light up two small light bulbs.
-That's all? -Yeah, that's all. That's it.
Aw, come on.
[Zac] And maybe not.
-[Darin] What is this? -[Oli] This is the main attraction.
[Oli] The Force is with you.
-Wow, it's really deceiving. -Yeah.
[wall humming]
-[Oli] You wanna go too? All three? -[Zac] Oh, really?
[wall humming]
[Darin] Whoa!
Yeah! That's amazing.
[Zac] It's not about the strength of the initial hit.
Turbines work with constant pressure.
And that constant pressure is turned into power.
The higher it falls down, the more you get out of it.
[Zac] Wow, and the more force, the better.
-The more force, the better. -The force is all around us.
I always wanted to measure my force powers.
[Darin] Here.
[Zac laughing]
-[wall humming] -[Darin laughing]
[Zac] Darin, look at that!
[Zac laughing]
[Darin imitating Yoda] Hmm. Force is strong with you, hmm?
Hey! What the heck? Is that four? In two days.
[Oli] This is the actual power station.
These are the turbines.
-[Darin] Wow. -[Zac] That's crazy.
[Zac] Would it be possible to see how they work underground?
-[Oli] Sure. -[Zac] Nice!
I'm not gonna come all the way to Iceland to not go underground and see turbines.
Fifteen stories down are the tops of the turbines.
And even further below are the inner workings.
I'm pretty sure this isn't part of the normal tour.
-[Darin] Wow. -Holy sh...
[Zac] Sick!
[Zac] We're headed down just a few more stories
to see the actual water that turns these bad boys.
[Zac laughing] Whoa!
-[Darin] Wow! -[Oli] We're back in nature.
We're literally going in a cave. [Darin laughs]
-[Zac] This is so rad! -[Darin] Wild!
[Zac] Into what may or may not be Val Kilmer's actual Batcave.
[Zac] This is one of the weirdest things.
[water roaring]
-[Darin] Wow! -[Zac] Cool!
[Oli] We can take this tunnel and exit to the outside.
[Darin] Oh, my God!
[Zac laughing]
[Darin] Holy...
-[Zac] What the [bleep]? -[Darin] That's literally the building...
up to the cave.
We will actually exit at the surface, and we don't have to walk up
those 15 flights of stairs.
[Zac] Electricity is easy to take for granted.
I just assume that when I flip on a switch, the lights will come on.
But this place gives me much greater appreciation
for what it takes to make electricity.
-[Zac humming] -[Oli] Here we are.
And flowing water that's powerful enough to run an entire city
and not increase our carbon footprint?
Well, that's just amazing.
Oh, it just pops up in the middle of nowhere?
You would never know there's a giant alien tunnel.
That is so awesome.
[Zac] It's inspirational to see a country running so clean and green.
Harnessing the elements like wind, sun, and even ocean waves
are things that everyone could be doing more of.
[Darin] That's a contribution to the planet. I love that.
[Oli] Yes.
[Zac] It's been a long day.
So we're both looking forward to a nice, relaxing car ride back to the city.
[silently]
[screaming] Argh!
[Zac laughing]
That was a nice try.
[laughs hysterically]
[man] We got this guy.
[Zac] Oh!
Nice. I'm glad you could lip-read all that.
-[man] That was good. -[laughing] That was perfect.
[Zac laughing] Ah!
[bleep]
[Zac] Time for dinner. As always, we like to keep it local.
Oh, push.
I usually check ahead if they can do anythingvegan for Darin.
-Hey there, Chef. -This place can.
-How are you doing? -Nice to meet you.
-It's a pleasure. -[chef] Welcome to Dill.
[Zac] What are we having today?
Hopefully, something interesting for you.
-All Viking food. -All Viking food, yeah. [laughing]
Before we go any further,
know that this is one of the best restaurants in Iceland,
and Chef Kári is known for gathering and preserving only local ingredients
to prepare traditional, contemporary Icelandic dishes.
-[Zac] What do you preserve it in? -We do salting. We do drying.
We do fermenting.
So all this stuff that's, like, in jars and...
[Kári ] Yeah. For example, I got raspberries this summer.
So you're doing salted raspberries?
-I'm doing salted raspberries, yeah. -Ah, cool!
I have no idea what I'm gonna use it with. But... [laughs]
[Darin] What is that?
-This is what Darin eats regularly. -Yeah.
-[Darin] Looks like leaves on my lawn. -[Kári laughs]
[Kári] This is actually leaves from my backyard.
Oh, cool!
[Darin] We eat 'em?
-[Kári] No, you don't have to eat them. -[Darin] I kind of have to, don't I?
[Kári] Have some water. It dries... dries up.
Yeah. Yeah.
-[Zac] Your eyes are watering. -A little barky.
[all laughing]
[woman joins in the laughing]
[clicking tongue]
[Kári] Well, on these sticks, you've got rutabaga and carrot
from... early last season.
-Cool. -[Kári] On yours,
carrot, but around it is wrapped bacon cut of lamb
that's been dung smoked.
-Dung smoked? -[Kári] Dung smoked, yeah.
-Really? That's... -[bleep] smoked. Yeah.
Really? So that's like [bleep] and hay?
Yeah. Very traditional way of smoking in Iceland.
Really? 'Cause it lasts long, or...
If you've looked around Iceland, there's not much of forests or trees.
-Oh yeah, [bleep] burns. -Yeah.
I've never had any specific thing I'm gonna put in my mouth burned with it,
I don't think. Maybe I have.
Probably have. I don't know. Who cares?
[Zac] Talk about using what you've got.
Burning dried sheep dung when you don't have wood. [chuckling]
This is a whole new twist on "when life gives you lemons."
-Oh, yeah. -Oh, yeah, there's that smokey...
It doesn't taste like dung.
[laughing]
[Kári] This is tartare...
-[Zac] Tartare. -[Kári] ...of, uh, reindeer.
-[Kári] Have you had reindeer before? -[Darin] Rudolph.
-[Kári] It's Rudolph, yeah. -[Darin] You're gonna eat Rudolph?
Wow.
[Kári] This reindeer was a female and was shot by myself.
-[Zac] Really? -Yes.
-So you went out and got this one. -Yeah.
It's like a lottery. You can't just go and hunt the reindeer.
Loads of people apply, and there's only 1,500 that get picked.
-[Zac] You still gotta go out and get it. -[Kári] Yeah.
You won't get this.
That's OK.
[Zac] I definitely respect the fact that he hunted this himself,
and also that he uses every part of the animal.
The hunting lottery system ensures that the reindeer population
is humanely managed for the winter.
-[Kári] Have you had reindeer before? -[Zac] This is my first time.
Mmm.
Oh, wow. That's very good.
-[Kári] Does it remind you of anything? -[Zac] It's not gamey.
-[Zac] It doesn't taste like chicken. -[Kári] No.
Oh. Yeah, if I had to compare it to something:
steak in, uh... in Japan.
-Wagyu? -Yeah, Wa... Something like that.
[Kári] Yeah.
To be honest, it is a lot of work to go and shoot a reindeer.
I had to walk 70 kilometers in total to get that.
I had to carry it on my back, and like up and down.
So, like, I'm not gonna throw anything... away.
-[Darin] Makes you appreciate it more. -Yeah, exactly.
-[Kári] I hate, hate throwing food away. -Very cool.
[Zac] Now it's time for a nice plant-based dessert.
What a cool combo.
-There you go. -Beautiful.
[Zac] For those who don't know, rutabaga is a yellow turnip.
And while a root vegetable is a pretty weird thing to put in a dessert,
here they use what they have.
-[Zac] Oh, man. -[Kári] You like that?
That's so good.
That has so many different...
There's so much going on with that.
Oh, yeah, like...
[Zac] Normally, dill is one of those things in dishes, and you're like,
-"Why is it there?" -[Kári] Why that?
And this just perfectly fits in. It's just enough.
[Darin] America, you go and it's... it's overpowered with sweet,
or it's chocolate and vanilla,
and, like, this is, like, 27 flavors and textures and...
[Zac] That's one of the best desserts I've ever had. Bravo!
[Darin] Oh!
Yeah!
-Thanks for stopping. -That was good. Unreal.
[Zac] For our last stop on the trip,
we're heading southwest to an outdoor geothermal spa
called the Blue Lagoon.
This incredibly popular hotspot
gets its heat from the nearby geothermal energy plants,
which empty here in an area known as Resource Park.
This is Albert, the brains behind the whole operation.
For decades, Albert has been a pioneer
in the environmental movement before there even really was one.
[Darin] We hear you're the, uh... visionary.
[Albert chuckling]
Well, they call me that.
I'm just a mechanical engineer interested in renewable energy.
I was brought up with my grandparents,
and nothing were wasted at all at home.
Everything was used.
That's a recurring theme, I feel like, in Iceland.
Yeah, exactly.
And it is in that way this Resource Park thinking started.
Sustainability.
[Zac] Resource Park is a collective of different companies in the area,
all built upon harvesting the hot water and other byproducts
from the surrounding energy plants.
Methanol, cosmetics, agriculture,
and even farm-raised tropical fish
are all industries thriving in this area as a result of byproducts
from the geothermal process.
[Albert] One of the goals is society without waste.
Better usage of the resource
and supporting sustainable development in society.
-Amazing! -So you were way ahead of the...
so-called "green movement."
-I didn't know what "green movement" was. -Right.
-[Zac laughing] -But this is no science.
-This is common sense! Nothing else. -Common sense, exactly!
[Darin] So where was the first pool, then? Was it very close to the facility?
[Albert] The Blue Lagoon was not like this in the beginning.
It was just a small pool adjacent to the power plant over there.
There was a guy
which came into my office. He was extremely bad of psoriasis.
He had been in and out of hospitals.
He asked, "Can I bathe in this?"
And I said to him, "OK, you have to be in this corner, on your own risk."
He went in, he went out.
Less than a week later, he came back and said,
"For three or four days, this itching stopped completely."
Wow!
So, as a part of his therapy, he started coming...
and jumping in your lagoon.
-[Albert] Yeah. -And that started healing his psoriasis.
[Darin] Just by using the natural...
Just bathing in this lagoon.
And it's rich of what? Uh, minerals, silica, things like that?
Exactly.
[Zac] The water here is so rich in silica, sulfur, and other minerals,
there's a permanent psoriasis clinic here at Resource Park,
and it's free to local Icelanders, with a doctor's referral.
So there's more to it than just power.
[Albert] Exactly. There are valuable, natural ingredients...
-Absolutely. -...in it.
Can you imagine how much waste energy comes from all these refineries...
-Yeah. -Paper and pulp. Just name it.
-Yeah. Absolutely. -Just name it.
-You know... we have to open our minds. -[Darin] Yeah.
And one thing about the Resource Park concept is to change our mindset.
-Otherwise, long term, we don't survive. -[Darin] Right.
[Zac] Absolutely. I love the way that you put that.
[Zac] Long-term survival on this planet for us, and for all generations after us,
is a pretty good idea.
Remember, the Earth will probably always be here.
We just might not be able to live on it for too long.
Albert is just one person with an idea.
And look at how that idea has flourished.
The fact that you have this vision, and this vision is now manifested...
it's... it's amazing.
Look, well, hopefully we can share your message and... and help...
help spread that... that wider perspective.
-[choked] Thank you, I am honored. -Yeah.
On that note, I think...
we're a little cold, so I think it's...
It's time for us to probably jump in this water!
[Albert] I think you should.
[Zac] Iceland has seven times more tourists than locals.
And now I understand why.
The food, the natural beauty, and the culture all blew me away.
But it's the renewable energy that I truly admire.
Remember, it wasn't always like this.
In the 1970s, Iceland was dependent on imported coal and oil.
And the change to 100% renewable electricity didn't happen overnight.
But big adjustments like that rarely do.
Change has to start somewhere.
And even if it's a little uncomfortable at first,
if the change is for the better, it's worth it.
Maybe it's time we all change, just a little bit,
what we can,
where we can.
Before it's too late.
If we focus our energy on working with nature rather than against it,
look at how much energy we could get in return.
I mean...
it's definitely working for Iceland.