GEOTHERMAL

ENERGY’S UNSUNG HERO

Imagine if you could turn on a tap of pure heat during the coldest season. The source of the heat wouldn’t be any kind of fossil fuel, and it wouldn’t rely on the sun shining or the wind blowing. No matter what the conditions were outside, you would be comfortable inside. Now imagine that the same tap provided a stream of cool air in the hottest months. As the sun beat down and humidity choked the outside world, your home or business would remain a cool oasis.

Finally… What if I told you that a variation of this miraculous tap could generate electricity?

The reality is, geothermal can do all of these things. Depending on the way that you harness it, the highly predictable temperature of the Earth’s crust and certain persistent hot spots can be utilized to provide effective heating, cooling, and power generation.

All we need to do is build the tap.

The Potential Of Geothermal Energy

In a world that’s trying to become more energy diversified, most countries aren’t trying very hard on the geothermal side of the coin.

Currently geothermal electricity sources only generate half a percent of the world’s power. This isn’t nearly enough to make a dent in our growing energy needs. Experts say that geothermal could potentially generate 10% of the world’s power by 2100. It just needs the same level of tax breaks and government support that every other renewable energy type is getting in the civilized world. Luckily, environmental lobbyists are pushing for that to happen.

How does geothermal energy production work? By drilling into one of the Earth’s hotspots, engineers can take advantage of the potential energy difference between the ground and the surface world. In particularly hot places underground, water is piped down and allowed to boil. The heat creates steam, which turns a turbine, the same way any boiler system works.

Hot spots are formed in many different ways. Friction, pressure, or radioactive decay can all produce zones of incredible heat under the ground. The most intense concentrations will melt the surrounding rock, forming pools of magma. Engineers run their water feed pipes as close to a subsurface heat source as possible while maintaining their operational efficiency.

The benefits of geothermal energy are clear. A geothermal plant produces one sixth the CO2 of natural gas, and almost no nitrous oxide or sulfur dioxide. Applications currently apply to commercial and grid power, but individual or community ‘mini geothermal’ projects might be more common in the future.

The Other Kind Of Geothermal - Heat Pumps That Eliminate Carbon Emissions

But what if we could prevent the use of power via geothermal? And what if that method was available to just about every home and business on the planet?

The other side of geothermal involves …