Riding from the airport to Iceland's capital, Reykjavik, gives one the sensation of having landed on the moon. Black lava rocks cover the mostly barren landscape, which is articulated by craters, hills and mountains. Other parts of the island are covered by a thin layer of green moss. American astronauts traveled here in the 1960s to practice walking the lunar surface, defining rock types and taking specimens.

I, too, have traveled here on a journey of sorts to a new world, a world that is powered not by oil, coal and other polluting fossil fuels, but one that relies primarily on renewable resources for energy and on hydrogen as an energy carrier, producing electricity with only water and heat as byproducts.

My quest has brought me to the cluttered office of Bragi