Geothermal Power Gains Steam in America

Harnessing the Earth’s Heat for Food and Power

As the rumbling temblors beneath Yellowstone National Park continue (over 900 hundred such weak quakes in 2008), media attention shifts to two topics: the possibility of a super-volcanic eruption (not likely, according to most geologists), and secondly, the harnessing of geothermal energy.

This latter consideration is all the more fashionable these days as America struggles to embrace an alternative and sustainable energy future.

Geothermal energy offers the promise of a virtually unlimited source of power. Although less energetic in terms  of total constant power output compared to the sun, harnessing the geothermal venting from a single, sufficiently high-grade, hot-spring could conceivably provide power for a population of tens of thousands, and it’s not weather dependent.  But there are also plenty of “lower grade” springs that can be put to other uses, such as growing hothouse produce (and the spring water is also used for watering the plants) and  naturally warming water for fish farming (the Talipia species, a popular dinner fish, is one species farmed this way). Not all animals that are farmed this way are used for food, some, like the farmed alligators in Mosca, CO (see photo), are raised for their skins primarily (though some do eat the meat).

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Hot springs and geysers—commonly found in parks and protected areas–are what most folks think of when they hear the phrase “geothermal energy”. But geothermal energy also refers to utilizing the hotter rocks deep below the earths surface to heat water. This is accomplished by the active pumping of water deep into the earth (2000 feet or more), permitting it to absorb heat from the hotter rocks, and then returning it to the surface. At that point, the water can be reused over and over. The extraction of heat from this water provides the “heat engine” needed to drive electric turbines. This type of system is described as a “closed loop” (it does not permit the heat to escape the system) and represents a more efficient means of generating power from the Earth.

The technology for doing this still needs improvement and there are some concerns about environmental damage from an unregulated drilling boom and the necessary road building to support it. However, geothermal energy systems such as the one described above cover vastly less land area than wind farms and solar arrays, and, if  the industry were guided by wise management practices (and had proper oversight), the environmental damage can be dramatically minimized, as compared to the coal-bed methane industry, for example.

Adding geothermal power to America’s growing list of possible energy alternatives can only strengthen our energy future;  it’s part of “diversifying our energy portfolio”, same as you would your stock portfolio, so as to decrease the possibility of a crisis (caused by a sudden shortage of a crucial energy source). This may mean less profit for any one particular industry (perhaps a clue as to why we have stayed hooked on oil for so long), but will mean a richer nation for all of us in the long run.

Fully functioning geothermal plants are still a few years off—ten years by most estimates—but just like the proverbial fruit tree that’s best planted twenty years ago,  the best time to start saving money and energy in the future is always yesterday.

Photos:

Courtesy of DOE/NREL, Credit - Warren Gretz.

Related Story Link:

geothermal future (NY Times article):

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