Listen to this PodcastMore 60-Second Earth
That's the sound of steam bursting from the Earth at Nevada Geothermal's Blue Mountain project. Harnessing the earth's heat to generate electricity has long been an overlooked renewable resource, despite having produced power reliably in Italy since 1904.
You see, the Earth's heat never stops—meaning a geothermal power plant can produce electricity as regularly as a nuclear power plant can. And it also has nearly no emissions of the greenhouse gases causing climate change.
The U.S. produces more than 100,000 gigawatt-hours per year of geothermal electricity already, but it could produce as much as 3.2 trillion gigawatt-hours. So why isn't there more? Well, it comes down to economics. Unlike drilling to reach oil and natural gas fields, drilling for geothermal power doesn’t produce immediate dividends.
The U.S. Department of Energy aims to help with that by funding research into subsurface exploration. And right now near Reno, Nevada, U.S. government scientists and partners are testing an advanced geothermal technology that could make it available across the country. Here's hoping they make steam.
—David Biello
[The above text is an exact transcript of this podcast.]
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5 Comments
Add CommentWhat it boils down to is we only have so much cheap, readily available fossil fuel with which to develop our next energy source. On the one the one hand - it had better be something we can live with- something that has minimal consequences for ourselves and our planet. On the other side of the equation - our choice for the future had better be economical and reliable because we won't have those fossil fuels left to try again. We must invest wisely.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOne of the biggest benefits I see with Geothermal is it puts coal burning power plants, natural gas (which we have never needed for anything), oil (which we are already scraping the bottom of the barrel on), nuclear (which is more dangerous, destructive, and more expensive than all the fossil fuels together) out of business; we will simply not have to depend on them to produce our power and we could use them for cleaner safer things. If each state built their own Geothermal power plant (we have drilling rigs all over the U.S that each state could rent that is able to drill deep holes), it would produce free clean electricity for as long as the plant is maintained. The state could charge a couple of cents per kwh and in a couple of years the plant is paid off and producing an income for the state, and in a very short period of time produce a profit for the state where they could provide more for their people. If each state could figure out how to keep greedy glutinous people from taking charge of the plant and putting all that free electricity out of reach of the common person like they are doing with fossil fuels now, the state could become very prosperous.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAll the intelligent countries have always said that Geothermal is the safest, cleanest to the environment, and cheapest to build and produce electricity than any other source of energy we know, but greedy and glutinous people in America have held Geothermal back for close to two centuries. Isn't it about time we stopped these kind of ignorant people and start producing for ourselves?
Your glowing recommendation cites no references for how very cheap this would be. I suspect that the costs of drilling, setting up and maintaining the equipment are higher than you think. I also have a vague recollection that a lot of geothermal fields are somewhat corrosive, which increases wear & tear on equipment.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe big problem with Geothermal Power is corrosion. The sources of good ground heat are also sources of lots of sulfuric acid. To protect the turbines, you need a heat exchanger to heat the clean working fluid near or at the surface. This looses at least a third of the available power.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisStill, the allure of free power is beckoning. There have been attempts to harness geothermal for over 100 years. Yellowstone Park had a few geysers early in the 1900's that were used of power. That didn't work out so well. Power plants in Utah and California have been used for decades. The plants have problems replacing piping frequently, and seldom produce more than 50 MW or so. One California site is currently credited by nearby residents with causing many earthquakes, and with contaminating ground water sources.
For efficient power generation, you need several hundred degrees C of temperature difference. up to 600 or 800 degrees C is good. Coal plants use up to 1000 degrees C difference. There are not really a lot of sites that have this. When a good site is found, it usually means that there is a pool of lava under the surface. At one Utah site, the snow never sticks to the ground in the geothermal area. This is in world class snow skiing country.
So, why isn't Geothermal used more? corrosion, lack of sites, small capacity.
In limited areas, it can provide needed power, but it will not provide the power for the whole country.
Nuclear is still the only available workable option. The longer we let pure emotion deny us this, the worse the world will get.
Yet again China will probably invest in geothermal energy production and beat the USA in the race.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGeothermal energy covers a wide range of temperatures. Low temperature sources can provide temperate air and heat homes efficiently via the use of heatpumps fed by ducting buried 4 feet down in gardens.