So, whats the deal with Iceland you may wonder. Well, the main reason is pretty simple. Many of the people behind this project are from Iceland. (Disclosure: I鈥檓 not from there. I come from a far away island 馃檪 In addition, our servers are hosted in Iceland, which we think is very cool.
Many of you probably know that Iceland has an amazing array of national treasures, there are volcanoes, geysers, hot springs. The volcanos are not only awesome to look at but they also power Iceland. Almost all electricity in Iceland comes from either geothermal or hydro energy. So our servers are running with 100% clean and renewable energy!
But there is more. You all know that powerful computers get very very hot so they need lots of cooling right? Well the fact that Iceland is up there in the Arctic sea and has cool temperatures is a natural aid. Still the guys in Iceland figured out yet another natural source, which is wind, to cool the data center! Pretty awesome, isn鈥檛 it?
For the people of Iceland, the rights to freedom of speech and strong consumer protection laws are most important. They are a proud people with due right. In Reykjavik and surrounding areas you can within a few hours drive, experience mountain scenery taken straight out of the Games of thrones (in fact they film it there).
You have beautiful vast areas covered in lava but with beautiful purple flowers growing out of it. There are geysers casting mist into the air in many areas. You have the blue lagoon, the best restaurants, a wonderful Opera, the coolest nightlife and of course the the most amazing phenomena ever, the northern lights. We think that there were many good reasons to choose Iceland for us to run this service.
Before I finish up, here are some cool Icelandic photos taken by Birkir J贸nsson to give you a taste. If you have any awesome photos from Iceland, please share with us!
One of more than 100 volcanoes in Iceland
Thanks to the volcanoes and geothermal energy, almost all hot water used in Icelandic household are heated naturally, and swimming pools are heated year-around so you can swim outside even in Icelandic winter. If you are a beach goer, there is also a heated beach 馃檪
Feels a bit like you just landed on the moon
Nothing beats seeing Aurora. It鈥檚 on 7 natural wonders of the world.
This is it for now. I hope that we can share more things about Iceland along the way.
