Last week the University Centre of the Westfjords welcomed the first field school of the summer. A group from the project AIRE, a Leonardo project funded with support from the European Commission, stayed in Ísafjörður from Thursday until Saturday. The aim of the AIRE project is to adapt and install an international vocational training for renewable energies, especially by making the latest knowledge in insulation and heat pumps available to artisans such as carpenters, electricians and plumbers.

Participants in the field school were both administrators and students from various schools and universities in Berlin. The purpose of their trip to Iceland was to learn about the status of renewable energy in the country and to find out how knowledge in the field is shared to specialists in university education, continuing education and especially in vocational education. The group had already learned that the status in the so called "cold areas" of Iceland (where geothermal energy is not available e.g. the Westfjords) is very different from the "warm areas", and can in many ways be compared to the status in Europe. Therefore the group was interested in visiting the Westfjords to learn about energy supply, energy savings and education related to these matters.

In the Westfjords the group visited the Westfjords Energy Company (Orkubú Vestfjarða), The Ísafjörður High School, the hydro-electric power plant Mjólkárvirkjun, and the old forge in Þingeyri. Recreation and culture was also on the agenda, for example a trip to the sites of Gísla Saga and a play by actor Elfar Logi Hannesson from the saga.

The field school was very successful and some of the administrators in the group are interested in sending students for vocational training to the Westfjords in the future.