Geothermal Power Plants: A Sustainable Green Energy

Geothermal Power Plants have been installed all over the world and are an inexhaustible or sustainable source of energy.  The way they work is this: Holes are drilled to the core of the earth. Pipes are installed and heat comes up through the pipes.

The largest Geothermal Power Plant is located in California in a place called The Geysers.  As of 2008 Geothermal Power Plants represent 1% of the worlds energy. The advantages of geothermal power are that there is no use of fossil fuels to produce power and emissions are very small.  It is a sustainable source of power because the heat extraction from the source is relatively small and replenishable from deeper in the earths core.  They are unaffected by weather and are dependant on nothing other than the heat in the earth’s core.

The problem with geothermal power is that the heat is a lot lower than that of steam boilers and limits the amount of power that you can extract.  It can be used for heating homes, mills and greenhouses.  Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) is a system where cold water is sprayed on top of hot dry rocks. This technology is worrisome because it may affect the stability of the land in the immediate surrounding area of the plant. Geothermal plants may last for many years, however, you can only extract as much power as that particular section of earth can supply.  How EGS works is that two holes are drilled 10 kilometers down and the rock in between the holes is fractured, then water goes down one of the holes and steam comes up the other. The entire process costs millions of dollars, but apart from the fossil fuels burnt drilling the holes, EGS plants are completely free of greenhouse emissions.  There are more than 70 countries using this source of power and another 11 countries are in the process of building plants.

Around the world, the use of heat pumps for individual buildings is becoming popular.  Most work on a loop system.  A pipe with a 90 degree bend in it is buried straight down and a fluid is pumped through the pipe. When the fluid comes back up it is hot.  Electricity is used to pump the water, but the price of heating the building is reduced drastically and emissions are minimal.

So in conclusion, Geothermal Power is a sustainable, relatively low cost source of energy that also has reduced emissions that has a positve affect our environment and helps keep our Green Earth.