Europe:

Geothermal Journalist Awarded EGU Science Journalism Fellowship (News Release)

Karl Urban will use prize money to report on the Iceland Deep Drilling Project

Karl Urban, winner of a 2015 Science Journalism Fellowship

The European Geosciences Union (EGU) has named journalist Karl Urban as one of the winners of its 2015 Science Journalism Fellowship. He will be awarded €2,500 for his journalism project reporting on obtaining a new kind of geothermal energy.

Urban will report on efforts to access a different type of energy resource, obtained near active volcanoes. In 2008, when the Iceland Deep Drilling Project team drilled their first borehole to tap into geothermal energy at depths of more than 4,000 meters, they inadvertently drilled into a magma reservoir at 2,100 meters. Despite that, the project was considered a success as the scientists and engineers were able to supply heat directly from the molten magma for a few months. As they plan to drill another hole in south-western Iceland, Urban will follow them to report on the difficulties and consequences of tapping into magma energy.

Urban is a science journalist in Germany specializing in geoscience and space science reporting. He works for radio stations, online magazines and newspapers, including Deutschlandfunk, Spektrum.de and Neue Zürcher Zeitung.

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