Saturday, November 19, 2011

The Truth About Geothermal Power

By Abe Monhegan


Geothermal energy can be energy that is actually generated with the Planet's individual heating power. You will perhaps recall from six grade science course the interior of the World, that is filled with magma, warms until unbelievably hot levels, actually it gets warmer versus sun down there! Oftentimes this heat can make its way up to the crust of the earth in the form of volcanoes and can additionally reveal itself in by means of geysers and fumaroles like those in Yellowstone National Park.

Although it might appear to be this kind of heating could be unpredictable and uneasy to manage, this is really not true. Actually, much like wells for oil, wells can be drilled into the floor to bring up steam and hot water you can use for heating or producing energy.

Geothermal energy can be used since antiquity. Native Americans, ancient Romans and even china made use of hot mineral Springs for heating, cooking and even bathing in. Today there's a couple of types of geothermal technologies.

A geothermal heat pump utilizes the consistent temperature within the upper 10 feet from the Earth's crust. Here, the temperatures are consistently between 50 and 60F. Pipes can be buried only at that depth as well as in winter heat in the warmer ground can be pumped into an adjacent building then in summer the cooler air can be pumped in to cool it. This requires the pipes, of course a heat pump and some duct work.

In another application, warm water that pools close to the Earth's surface can be pumped into buildings and used for heating purposes. Additionally, wells can be drilled into hard rock and the resulting heat or steam can be used to generate power.

Among the good stuff about geothermal energy is that it has very little impact on the environment. Scientists believe it is sustainable and renewable since the Earth is constantly heating. Geothermal power plants have really low emissions and geothermal heat pumps are extremely energy-efficient.

However there are several disadvantages to geothermal power. The fluid is quite corrosive and, compared to a steam boiler, is really a reduced temperature therefore it must be used efficiently and quickly. Also geothermal water can contain arsenic, mercury along with other toxic chemicals in minute traces so ensuring the water is not disposed of in our rivers and streams is a must.

There are geothermal sites and power plants today, in fact California has 33 areas that use geothermal energy and also the geysers dry dream reservoir has been producing electricity since 1960. However, there are several concerns these geothermal areas can cool off because of overuse since there is only a lot energy that could be stored in any one area of the earth. This brings up the question of whether geothermal energy is really renewable or not and whether we ought to put lots of resources into researching it's use.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment