How does geothermal energy work? Water is heated under the surface of the earth from hot rocks. The rocks are heated from the gases and magma. The source is from the Earth's core which is four to seven thousand degrees Celsius! Where does the water come from? The water is from the ground, and it gets renewed from rain and snow water. It is like recharging batteries. How do we get this energy? We drill underground for either the hot water or the steam. Then, we can harness the water and/or steam and convert its heat energy into electricity. This innovation should be noticed for its efficiency and its economic potential.
Investing in geothermal energy can help us obtain energy efficiently. It can help us as a nation supply energy and save money since it does not have to be mined or burned. In comparison with coal, geothermal energy emits less carbon dioxide and toxic gases. Also, coal is not renewable since there is only also two hundred years worth of coal in the United States. Sure that is a lot of time, but our needs will increase in the future and the projected years of use could be less. Geothermal energy renews itself every time it rains. Hot rocks heat the water thousands (or even miles) below the surface. The thing is that geothermal energy would outlast coal. At first, it may seem expensive to installed geothermal electricity plants; but they will help save the environment and money. Just drill, build, and harness!
Electricity is very important to maintain the planet. It is now a necessity! One way to get electricity is to burn coal. Another is through hydroelectric energy. The problem is that coal is a limited, polluting resource and not everybody lives by running water that can generate enough energy to light their house. Also everybody on Earth lives on earth, and under that earth is geothermal energy. The potential for geothermal energy should be everywhere where there is land including Antarctica. We need to convert geothermal energy to electricity. We need to build power plants that can do that. There are three types of geothermal power plants: flash-point, dry stream, and binary. Flash-point plants generate electricity by letting the water from a well go through one or two separators and then boils dramatically into steam which force help generate the turbine. This is the most common type. The dry stream plants generate electricity from steam from the ground help generate a turbine from its force. The most efficient and most expensive type of plant is binary. The water from the ground go through a tube aside with another tube with a working liquid (usually isobutane or isopentane) which boils and condenses at a lower temperature than water. That working liquid powers the turbine and is used repeatedly. These plants expel less harmful gases than the average coal power plant and uses a renewable source.
What should we do to advance geothermal technology? We have the potential for every land to have geothermal energy, but we do not have the technology. Two percent of California has geothermal energy, but ninety-eight percent of California does not have it. One problem is that we do not have deep enough drills. If we can drill deeper, we can provide energy in places that may not have geothermal energy.
How does this look at an economic standpoint? The green energy business is getting more noticeable. People are getting more concerned about the environment. Also, there is a recession going on in the United States. People want to save money. What better way to save mining expenses and what-not by having geothermal energy! Rain and snow is its fuel. Sure, it is expensive to build a power plant; but I believe that it would save money when you give it time. Also, green energy will integrate into the society and be normal like coal. Once it becomes more "normal," people are more comfortable with the product and demand would increase. Geothermal energy accounts for serious wattage (on 1999, 8217 Megawatts). Here is a chart on the distribution of this energy.
Roy H Miller III
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