Geothermal Energy: Energy for now, Energy for the future
Parker Pyle
Physics, Reading Memorial High School, Reading MA, 01867
What is Geothermal Energy?
Pros and cons
Here on the surface of earth the weather is constantly changing and the
seasons are shifting making it either hot or cold or just nice. However
if you dig down far enough, say about 10 feet the temperature stays a
constant 50 to 60 degrees no matter what the season is because of the
earths liquid magma core. This constant temperature can make it nice
and cool in the summer and nice and warm in the winter using wells
and pipes to bring it up. This is just one of many ways to obtain and
use this renewable energy source. Getting it almost everywhere from
the bottom of the ocean to a volcano geothermal energy can be found
and used almost anywhere in the world.
Environmental Friendliness:
Pros: Geothermal plants require no coal and no other fossil fuel to fun.
They produce almost zero emissions and, if not tapped by the power
plant some of the geysers would actually put more sulfur and other
chemicals into the air.
Cons: almost zero although some do produce harmful emissions
compared to the other types of plants it is an insignificant number.
What the future holds
Eventually in the future as the cost of drilling goes down, as it has by
about a fourth in about the last two decades, the cost of the plants will
go down and then this will be very economical to have around
wherever possible. Also in the future one of the major “cons” will be
answered as drilling technology gets more advanced. We will be able
to drill down about four miles down to get at the hot temperatures
anywhere in the earth without the need for “hot spots”. This will allow
anywhere in the world to be fueled by geothermal energy.
How do we get it?
There are many ways to obtain geothermal energy one such way is, as
I stated above, digging down and piping up the hot air and water.
Other than that here are the three most common ways to get and use
geothermal energy
Dry Steam Plant: this is a plant where steam is piped directly up to the
power plant and there it is used to turn the turbines of the plant thus
producing electricity.
Flash Steam Plant: This plant uses the water that underground and
“flashes” up. This high pressure water is then quickly turns to steam
and turns the turbine and then turns back into water to get piped down
to start the process over again. This is the most common type of
geothermal plant.
Binary Cycle Plant: In places where the water is not as hot as need to
create the “flash” of steam (only 250 to 360 F) they use a Binary Plant.
This means they pipe the water up using one tube and pipe another
liquid down and the other liquid eventually gets hot enough to turn to
steam and powers the plant that way.
"EIA Energy Kids - Geothermal." Web. 31 Mar. 2010.
<http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/kids/energy.cfm?page=geother
mal_home-basics-k.cfm>.
This website was very informative and it contained many
pictures that helped me fully understand the energy and how it
is captured. This website was fun to look and contained
general but useful information for my project.
Geothermal Energy Association. Web.
<http://www.geo-energy.org/>.
Figure 2: A Geothermal power
plant. The steam you see is just
that, steam and nothing more,
harmless to the environment.
Figure 1. this is a picture of a
Geyser at Yellowstone National
Park. These geysers can be used to
generate electricity due to their heat
and pressure.
Annotations
Reliability:
Pros: Geothermal power plants are very simple. Due to this simplicity
there is simply less that can go wrong. Unlike a nuclear power plant
where there can be a melt down nothing too serious can happen at a
geothermal plant. Every geothermal plant built within the last 100
years is still functioning (www.energy-consumers-edge.com).
Cost:
Pros: Although the initial cost to start a plant is high once in operation
it pays for itself due to the fact that it has zero fuel cost. It requires no
shipping of materials or anything of that nature.
Cons: The cost for start up is high due to the tough nature of the rocks
and the corrosive materials surrounding them. Geothermal digging is
the most expensive digging one could do.
Availability:
Pros: Where available it is one of the most cost effective and
competitive energy resources out there. It rivals coal and fossil fuels.
Cons: The one big con with this energy source is that the availability is
scarce. While now we are limited to a few hot spots, in the US they
include the western states, Alaska, and Hawaii, in the future, when
drilling technology gets better they will be able to dig down miles to
the earths mantle and from there its just a matter of getting water down
there and the steam back up.
Figure 4: this is a slice of the
earth seeing the different layers
from where we inhabit to the solid
inner core which is where the
earth generates its geothermal
energy from.
Mar.
2010.
this website is the official website for the Geothermal
Energy Association.
It contained much more specific
information and it was also very useful in seeing all the
different aspects of how geothermal energy is and can be
used in the future.
"Power From the Earth's Heat." Geothermal Education Office.
Web.
31
Mar.
2010.
<http://www.geothermal.marin.org/pwrheat.html#Q4>.
this website contained many facts and figures that were
essential to this poster. It was not fun or easy to read but it was
very informative and essential to this project.
The U.S.G.S. (United States Geological Survey) estimates that in the
united states alone we have about 95,000 to 150,000 MW in
geothermal energy. Of that we currently have about 25,000 MW in
energy produced.
Hopefully in the future we can further develop this type of energy to
become even more beneficial than it already is and more cost effective.
Though it is already competitve with coal and other fossil fuels for
cost it lacks, as of yet, the ability to be all around the world and is
stuck in confided spaces where the cracks in the mantle are big enough
for magma to come through and heat it the water up. Due to its cost
effectiveness, durability and environmentally friendly its not a stretch
to see many developing countries turn to geothermal energy as a
resource and in just a few years it will be available to all around the
world.
Figure 3: this figure shows
the hot spots around the world
circled in red. As you can see
they are in sparse sections
around the world.
Sustainability:
Pros: There is enough Thermo Nuclear Energy in the earth to last for
billions of years to come. THAT’S LONGER THAN THE SUN!
Units: Billions of barrels of oil equivalent
Crustal Heat-----------------79,000,000
Thermal Aquifers--------------------130
Oil Reserves-----------------------5,300
Annual Global Energy Consumption----70
(www.energy-consumers-edge.com)
Cons: the only problem with this again is the availability of the heat is
not yet wide spread enough to get the entire world on this form of
energy.
31
"Pros and Cons of Geothermal Energy." Energy Consumers
Edge. Web. 31 Mar. 2010. <http://www.energyconsumersedge.com/pros_and_cons_of_geothermal_energy.html>.
this website outlined the positive and negative aspects of
geothermal energy. Some of the facts were very interesting and
surprising. This website was a big help in making this poster.
"What Is Geothermal Energy?" Alternative Energy Resources.
Web. 31 Mar. 2010. <http://www.alternative-energyresources.net/whatisgeothermalenergy.html>.
this website thouroughly explained what geothermal energy
was and how to obtain electricy and heat power from it. It had
many diagrams and pictures which I used in the poster. It was
very factual and had a lot of statistics on it as well.
Pictography
1. http://images.angelpub.com/2009/11/1804/geothermal-energy-capacity.gif
2. http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/kids/energy.cfm?page=geothermal_home-basics-k.cfm
3. http://www.alternative-energy-resources.net/whatisgeothermalenergy.
4. http://www.geo-energy.org
Graph 1: this graph shows a
rising trend in the use of geo
thermal energy.