What is Geothermal Energy
First of all,what is geothermal energy? With our energy costs rising and our energy consumption increasing all over the world, we need to find alternative energy solutions. There are several different options and we need to pursue all of them.
First of all,we need to be more conservative by making our homes and businesses more energy efficient. We need to determine what source is the best option by researching all of the available alternative energy sources. We need to how to make use of many sources of alternative energy and find the answer to the question of, what is geothermal energy and how and where do we get it?
Geothermal energy is energy obtained by tapping the heat of the earth itself. It usually comes from kilometers deep into the Earth's crust. It is expensive to build a power station but operating costs are low resulting in low energy costs for suitable sites. Ultimately, this energy derives from heat in the core.
Three types of power plants are used to generate power from geothermal energy: Dry steam, flash, and binary.
Dry steam plants take steam out of fractures in the ground and use it to directly drive a turbine that spins a generator.
Flash plants take hot water, usually at temperatures over 200 °C, out of the ground, and allows it to boil as it rises to the surface then separates the steam phase in steam/water separators and then runs the steam through a turbine.
In binary plants, the hot water flows through heat exchangers, boiling an organic fluid that spins the turbine. The condensed steam and remaining geothermal fluid from all three types of plants are injected back into the hot rock to pick up more heat.
One way to answer, what is geothermal energy and where does it come from? Geothermal power is power extracted from heat stored in the earth. This geothermal energy originates from solar energy absorbed at the surface and from the original formation of the planet, from radioactive decay of minerals. .
It has been used for space heating and bathing since ancient roman times, but is now better known for generating electricity. About 10 GW of geothermal electric capacity is installed around the world as of 2007, generating 0.3% of global electricity demand. An additional 28 GW of direct geothermal heating capacity is installed for district heating, space heating, spas, industrial processes, desalination and agricultural applications.
There is hot underground steam or water that can be tapped and brought to the surface where it may be used to generate electricity.The geothermal energy from the core of the Earth is closer to the surface in some areas than in others..
Many of these geothermal power sources exist in certain geologically unstable parts of the world such as Chile, Iceland, New Zealand, United States, the Philippines and Italy.
The two most prominent areas for this in the United States are in the Yellowstone basin and in northern California.
There
is also the potential to generate geothermal energy from
hot dry rocks. Holes at least
3 km deep are drilled into the earth. Some of these holes pump
water into
the earth, while other holes pump hot water out. The heat resource
consists of
hot underground radiogenic granite rocks, which heat up when there is
enough
sediment between the rock and the earths surface. Several
companies
in
Australia are exploring this technology.
Iceland produced 170 MW geothermal power and heated 86% of all houses in the year 2000 through geothermal energy. Some 8000 MW of capacity is operational there in total.
Geothermal power is cost effective, reliable, and environmentally friendly, but has previously been geographically limited to areas near tectonic plate boundaries. Recent technological advances have dramatically expanded the range and size of viable resources, especially for direct applications such as home heating. Geothermal wells tend to release greenhouse gases trapped deep within the earth, but these emissions are much lower than those of conventional fossil fuels.
Geothermal energy is the most energy-efficient and environmentally sensitive of all heating and cooling systems by the EPA and you can see how it works.
