The Heat Is On!

Geothermal heat is heat produced from the natural flux of heat from the Earth’s core to the mantle. The mantle then transfers the heat to rocks and rainwater in the Earth’s crust, producing hot rocks and steam. The steam can be harnessed either by building a power turbine on top of a upwelling in the crust, or drilling a hole into a hot geothermal water reservoir, which allows the hot water to come to the surface, turn a turbine generator, and cool down, upon which it is returned back to its source. There are three primary types of geothermal plant: dry steam, which uses steam straight from the geothermal wells to turn a turbine; flash steam, which brings hot water up under pressure, then releases the pressure allowing the water to ‘flash’ into steam and turn a turbine; and binary cycle plants, where the hot water from the geothermal source is used to heat another liquid that has a lower boiling point than water into steam to turn a turbine. No trucking fuel to the site, no strip mining mountains, no hazardous reactive waste, no foreign oil, no carbon emissions, no piles of garbage or greenhouse gases. A geothermal power plant is simply hot water pumped from the ground creating steam to turn a turbine to make electricity. Have we at last found the one true answer to all of our green energy needs?

‘Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?’

Almost. In fact, we can upgrade ‘almost’ to ‘maybe.’ Let’s take a look at what we know and what we have. We know the technology. It is a fairly simple direct process, meaning that the Government has a hard time messing it up. We know that the Western United States has enough calderas to provide enough megawatts to power a great deal of California. Most estimates have a low-hanging fruit estimate of 10% of our total energy supply, or 100,000 MW, can be achieved from geothermal energy sources. Some of the larger geothermal reservoirs have an estimated capacity of 16,000 Mw alone. The big question is this: Should we stop with the low-hanging fruit and take the 10%, or push onward and get all we can out of it? Iceland heats 70% of its homes with geothermal heat; however, there aren’t really that many homes in Iceland, but it is worth noting that as an energy source, geothermal energy is not one-dimensional. The answers lie mostly in the available geological formations that would be cost-effective to drill, and the technology improvements that would enable us to drill 2-3 miles down and pump water to fracture heat-bearing rock and recover the steam.
Here is a good way to look at the dilemma, as well as the solution. We currently have ocean-based oil well drilling rigs that can hit an oil dome THROUGH THE OCEAN and the ocean’s floor. Why can they do this? Because it is financially feasible to do it. Billions of dollars are spent by oil companies every year to find new fields and new ways to pump out old fields of oil. We, the consumer, cheerfully pay for these expenditures. The United States Government has never had to bail out an oil company, and Exxon/Mobil makes over $40,000,000,000 a QUARTER in PROFIT. What if we spent that much on developing geothermal fields? Here again, it is mostly about the profit margin, fiscal responsibility, and financial reward that drives our energy economy, not common sense and an eye for the environment. Hopefully, we do not doom ourselves by sitting idly by yet again and wait for Big Oil to take care of it.

So, What Can I Do?

The United States has a short attention span as a nation. We get up in arms about something, and then the powers-that-be either spin it to the positive, or go off on a tangent taking the news with them (Soldiers dying in Afghanistan and Iraq, ‘Look over there! 2 gay people getting married’). This needs to stop. For the better part of the last decade, energy policy has been a game of ‘bait and switch,’ with nothing of substance being done to provide cleaner and greener energy to the consumer while the Big Three of Oil, Coal, and Nuclear continue to get paid. When you sit down and think about it (preferably with the TV off) we have been asleep at the switch for the last 8 years. That is 8 years of war, 8 years of high energy prices, 8 years of polluting our streams, rivers, land, ocean, and air with unnecessary byproducts of a failed energy policy because we as citizens had to spend time watching Barry Bonds deny he takes steroids. When was the last time a utility company asked for a DECREASE in rates? So what can we do? Well, for starters:

*Wake up. You don’t have to be a shrill environmentalist, but at least have a brain-stem functional awareness of your environment and the harm that current power generation sources do to it. The Internet is a powerful tool for research. Try it!
*Feel free to redirect your elected representatives when they go off on those odd tangents that ignore crucial issues, like breathable air and drinkable water. I know that Anna Nicole Smith deserved her own Superior Court Case, but we didn’t need 24 hour coverage.
*Buy Exxon/Mobil stock. On the surface, this looks like you are selling out. But as a shareholder, you have a say-so in what they do. If enough people buy Exxon/Mobil stock, they can be goaded into taking some of the cash they have lying around in the office and spending it on long-term geothermal technology.
*Make sure your elected representatives are in favor of geothermal exploration. Reward those who are with hugs, campaign contributions, and additional terms in office. What we need more than anyone else is a long term energy policy, and we need to keep the people in office that agree with us, and vote out the ones who don’t.
*The next time your public utility asks for a rate increase (and don’t worry, they will!), take a few minutes and find out why they feel like they need more money. If it is to offset higher fuel costs or to build a new coal burning power plant, politely tell your representative that this is not acceptable behavior. Educate your representative on green energy. Ask your representative why he wants to pollute the state even more. Get him on your side!
* Be vigilant. Keep abreast of the local issues and a sharp eye on the national ones. Remember, every time a coal plant is shut down, someone somewhere takes a cleaner breath of air.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRAQrDduaU0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoDBKvnRDIA