Hi there! For day three of our renewable energy discussion, I will give you some information on geothermal energy, which is less well known than its famous counterparts: wind and solar.
Geothermal energy is a process that takes heat from Earth’s inner core and uses it to generate electricity. The Earth’s core has a temperature of around 10,800 degrees Fahrenheit, around the heat of the sun’s surface. Isn’t that crazy? Geothermal energy is really just harnessing something that has existed for eons.
When you bathe in a hotspring, it’s run by geothermal energy. It’s all around us yet can be difficult to spot. Geothermal energy works by taking heat from the inner core to turn water into steam, turning turbines and generating electricity.
Most geothermal plants are located in the West, since that’s where reserves are closest to the surface. However, snippets can be found just about everywhere, making it a promising, yet still complex to extract, solution.
Geothermal energy also isn’t always directly generated into electricity; in fact, it is often used for direct heating of homes and buildings through a geothermal heat pump. These pumps are the most environentally friendly and energy efficient way to heat your homes, according to the Enviornmnetal Protection Agency (EPA).
Regular geothermal plants are green too. In fact, they emit almost zero greenhouse gases except for sulfuric dioxide, which can be removed through a scrubber that filters it out of geothermal plants.
Geothermal plants are also very long-lasting. In fact, plants installed over 50 years ago are still going strong today. This is important because geothermal plants do have a fairly significant upfront cost.
This type of energy is also very reliable. You don’t need sun or wind to obtain geothermal energy, so it is a great option for areas with fluctuating weather.
These attributes are especially valuable since it has become increasingly evident that we can not rely only on one form of renewable energy; we must use a mixture of various solutions.
Since geothermal energy has characteristics that other clean energy options do not, this makes it a valuable tool to make up our renewable energy composition.
Geothermal energy is also fairly compact compared to other forms of renewable energy. It doesn’t take up hundreds of acres, like a wind or solar farm, and for the most part isn’t terribly ugly to look at.
The biggest con of geothermal energy is that it can be finicky to find a proper location. There needs to be hot fluid underground with low mineral and gas content, and it also needs to be easily accessible.
For this reason, it is not as widespread as other forms of renewable energy. People also tend to not trust things that they can’t see, so they are often more accepting of tangible forms of renewable energy, like solar.
Luckily, new innovations are allowing geothermal energy to be extracted from deeper sources, making it more available and widespread.
One other con is that geothermal power plants disrupt the Earth, and could even lead to small earthquakes. However, these tend to be extremely minor and can often be completely eliminated if engineers are knowledgeable and use good risk management skills.
Overall, just like many forms of renewable energy, geothermal has its pros and cons, but still remains a promising way to power our Earth.
Tune in tomorrow to learn about nuclear energy!
Elena