Geothermal energy is energy that is generated by the Earth's own heating power. You probably remember from six grade science class that the inside of the Earth, which is filled with magma, heats up to incredibly hot levels, in fact it gets hotter than the sun down there! Sometimes this heat makes its way up to the crust of the earth in the form of volcanoes and can also manifest itself in in the form of geysers and fumaroles like those in Yellowstone National Park.
While it may seem like this type of heating would be unpredictable and uneasy to control, this is actually not true. In fact, similar to wells for oil, wells can be drilled down into the ground to bring up steam and hot water that can be used for heating or producing energy.
Geothermal energy has actually been used since antiquity. Native Americans, ancient Romans and even the Chinese made use of hot mineral Springs for heating, cooking and even bathing in. Today there are a couple of types of geothermal technologies.
A geothermal heat pump makes use of the consistent temperature in the upper 10 feet of the Earth's crust. Here, the temperature is consistently between 50F and 60F. Pipes can be buried at this depth and in winter heat from the warmer ground can be pumped into an adjacent building then in summer the cooler air can be pumped in to cool it. This involves the pipes, of course a heat pump and some duct work.
In another application, hot water that pools near the Earth's surface can be pumped into buildings and used for heating purposes. In addition, wells can be drilled into hard rock and the resulting heat or steam can be used to generate power.
One of the good things about geothermal energy is that it has very little impact on the environment. Scientists believe it is sustainable and renewable because the Earth is constantly heating. Geothermal power plants have very low emissions and geothermal heat pumps are extremely energy-efficient.
However there are some disadvantages to geothermal power. The fluid itself is quite corrosive and, when compared to a steam boiler, is a much lower temperature so it must be used efficiently and quickly. Also geothermal water can contain arsenic, mercury and other toxic chemicals in minute traces so making sure that the water is not disposed of in our rivers and streams is a must.
There are geothermal sites and power plants today, in fact California has 33 areas that use geothermal energy and the geysers dry dream reservoir has been producing electricity since 1960. However, there are some concerns that these geothermal areas can cool down due to overuse since there is only so much energy that can be stored in any one area of the earth. This brings up the question of whether geothermal energy is really renewable or not and whether we should put a lot of resources into researching it's use.
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