Renewable Energy Sources - Part Three - Geothermal

by Darren

Now we’ve reached Part Three of our series on renewable energy sources. It’s time to take a look at Geothermal energy production.

Geothermal energy is a strong alternative renewable energy source for a number of reasons.

1) Geothermal is clean energy. There is no mining or burning to extract energy and there is no nasty leftover by product.
2) Geothermal energy does not cause greenhouse emissions and doesn’t contribute significantly to global warming.
3) Geothermal plants have high availability and generally low costs.
4) Geothermal energy is renewable, since the Earth can continue to produce heat indefinitely

Geothermal energy costs a good bit of money for the initial investment, but then the costs to produce electric tend to stay low.

Basic geothermal energy production can be broken into three distinct technology categories.

The types of geothermal energy production:

1) Heat Pumps
2) Direct-Use Applications
3) Power Plants

An example of geothermal energy that has been present for centuries is the hot spring. But such geothermal energy is not effective for mass consumption, so man has had to innovate to make geothermal energy more useful. In the United States, the country’s first commercial geothermal plant was built in 1960.

“The country’s first large-scale geothermal electricity-generating plant begins operation. Pacific Gas and Electric operates the plant, located at The Geysers. The first turbine produces 11 megawatts (MW) of net power and operates successfully for more than 30 years. Today, 69 generating facilities are in operation at 18 resource sites around the country.”

Geothermal energy production has been gaining in interest in the last few years as the global warming discussion continues to magnify in intensity.

The main disadvantage of Geothermal energy is that it’s difficult to find adequate sites for construction. In order to build a geothermal plant, a contractor must find hot spots in the Earth’s surface which will support the high heat necessary for the plant to produce energy. These hot spots do not occur in all areas, so geothermal plants are not always appropriate. Without heat, there’s no steam. Without steam, no energy.

All in all, Geothermal energy is an extremely viable vein of research, especially when it comes to finding an alternative to coal or nuclear based power plants. For Western states in the U.S., the addition of Geothermal energy power plants would most certainly be beneficial.

Continued from Renewable Energy Sources - Part Two - Hydropower

Next in series: Renewable Energy Sources - Part 4 - Wind