Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Geothermal Energy


Western GeoPower Corp. had this press release in 2007 from the Globe and Mail. They do a great job explaining the differences between the two main types of geothermal usage, and their cost involvements.

A Geothermal-source heating and cooling system works on a series of looped pipes buried underground below the frost line on a residential scale to heat a home in winter and cool it in summer. This saves an estimated 70% on energy costs annually. To purchase and install such a system costs the home owner $13,000 - 15,000, with technology and market prices of 2007.

The other more large scale energy creation comes from Geothermal steam turbines. In this process, a power plant is built around holes drilled down to the hotter regions of the earth's core, where water sent down pipes causes steam to rise and drive turbines. It is important to note however, that most areas would benefit from EGS or Enhanced Geothermal Systems, in which chemicals would be used to "open up new cracks and to interconnect geothermal pools to create a viable heating source."

There has been a lot of talk about geothermal energy among the Zeitgeist community, and for good reasons; this energy source is clean, virtually harmless to the environment, and completely sustainable. An MIT report estimated that over 200 ZJ would be extractable, with the potential to increase this to over 2,000 ZJ with technology improvements - sufficient to provide all the world's present energy needs for several millennia. With the potential to become the predominately used source of energy in our future, discussions of where to build geothermal plants have begun. See aside a map of North America and its heating flow curvature to further your own investigations. Links to the site of the creator and for more information on existing surveys, check here.

1 comment:

  1. Western GeoPower Corp. had this press release in 2007 from the Globe and Mail. They do a great job explaining the differences between the two main types of geothermal usage, and their cost involvements. 2 pump flow center

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