Geothermal energy
One of the oldest energy stocks in our world is the geometric energy. It is the energy that is stored in
the earth's crust and created the sun and the radioactive decay when the earth started gathering.
By drilling deep can take advantage of the energy, which is stored in the form of steam or hot water.
By pumping down the cold water to the hot water, the cold water is heated and returned to the
surface for use in heating of buildings and facilities.
In Iceland the warm water seeped to the surface, forming geysers and hot springs and can be used
directly from the soil surface.
Already in the Roman Empire used the hot water from the earth to the bathhouse, known terms.
Sweden's use of geothermal energy
In Sweden we use geothermal energy depending on how accessible it is. In Lund, approximately 50%
of the total heat input into the district heating network from geothermal energy. It has become a
popular investment among private homeowners. This despite the fact that the investment cost is
quite high. The investment has proved worthwhile in the long run.
There are some places in Sweden that is very suitable for geothermal and one of these is Skåne.
When drilling deep enough, about 2 km, in some places in Skåne, reach temperatures between
seventy-five and eighty-five degrees. This works great as a source for district heating. When heat is
used, water is pumped back into another hole and heats up again.
Geothermal heat can consist of geothermal energy, but is often combined with geothermal
consisting of stored solar energy.
How it works
The energy from the Earth's interior can be picked up fairly close to the Earth's surface. This is done
by water pumped into the bedrock. It is then heated, or they pumped the water that is already in the
ground and the heat contained in the water is utilized. It is the very easiest to use the geometric
energy is close to the continental plates, it is fine to extract energy in form of heat from the rock. In
order to use rock heat to warm the house required drill holes only a few meters. Using a heat
exchanger, concentrated energy and is efficient enough to maintain a detached warm. In order to
transform the geometric energy into electricity must be very deep boreholes so that the heat is high
enough in the water that is extracted to drive turbines. That means several kilometers deep holes on
the drilling does not occur at a continental plate boundary, which is an expensive investment in most
case.
Environmental impact
Geothermal energy is seen as effective, environmentally friendly and reliable. In all cases in general.
In the event that the water already stored in the bedrock pumped up release process out some
greenhouse gases, but in comparison to fossil fuels, the figure is negligible. In some cases, other
hazardous substances ride, but it only applies to certain areas. Another aspect is that when the soil is
drilled with a variety of holes, so decreases the stability of the ground around it. In the worst cases,
trigger earthquakes. For the local environment, geothermal, where deep holes drilled, no major
environment-altering effect. Geothermal, formerly in vogue, has been shown to lower the Earth's
temperature slightly, which can have negative side effects of vegetation.
Renewable source
The geometric energy is the heat that is stored inside the Earth's surface. It is stored solar energy in
form of heat that is easy for us humans to exploit. That allows the geothermal energy is a renewable
source and easy to take advantage of.
Advantages and disadvantages
Advantages:
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The amount of energy contained in the soil could cover the whole world for heat.
Impact on the environment is extremely low.
There is an energy source that can provide both heat and electricity.
It does not require much equipment to transfer heat to the district heating network.
Geothermal heating is a cheap source of heat.
A hot water source provides heat and / or electricity in very many years on a good method
for the return of the water to its original use.
Today's technology can take advantage of the heat from the water of very different
temperatures.
The water from the heat source can be used in direct heating systems.
Disadvantages:
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It may be difficult to find a suitable location for drilling.
The geothermal heat is difficult to access in non-volcanic areas.
Drilling can be problematic and it is difficult to know in advance the amount of water that
can be found.
It requires heavy investment even before the results can be calculated.
Drilling can cause disasters, for example puncturing the gas pockets with high pressure.
Future
Many believe that the future of geothermal energy lies in developing countries, and one is above it
all very optimistic regarding the possibilities. But we wonder why they should limit itself only to those
countries. As the technology develops, so will be able to build more, better and cheaper systems that
can better extract electricity from water that is medium temperature.
Costs
The cost of drilling and searching is quite large and is of course this energy options in the dish
because many other kinds of plants can be built anywhere in principle. According to the World Bank
cost electricity generated from a geothermal power plant from a medium-sized power plants in
developing countries between 4 and 7 cents kilowatt hours. Generally speaking, the larger the plant,
the cheaper electricity and warmer water also provides cheaper electricity. There are a variety of
factors recording in the price and details differ depending on who you ask and where you are.