Advantages
There are many advantages to using geothermal energy either directly or
indirectly:
Geothermal energy is renewable; it is not a fossil fuel that will be
eventually used up. Earth is continuously radiating heat out from
its core, and will continue to do so for billions of years.
Some form of geothermal energy can be accessed and harvested
anywhere in the world.
Using geothermal energy is relatively clean. Most systems only emit
water vapor, although some emit very small amounts of sulfur
dioxide, nitrous oxides, and particulates.
Geothermal power plants can last for decades and possibly
centuries. If a reservoir is managed properly, the amount of
extracted energy can be balanced with the rock’s rate of renewing
its heat.
Unlike other renewable energy sources, geothermal systems are
“baseload.” This means they can work in the summer or winter, and
are not dependent on changing factors such as the presence of
wind or sun. Geothermal power plants produce electricity or heat
24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The space it takes to build a geothermal facility is much
more compact than other power plants. To produce a GWh (a
gigawatt hour, or one million kilowatts of energy for one hour, an
enormous amount of energy), a geothermal plant uses the
equivalent of about 1,046 square kilometers (404 square miles) of
land. To produce the same GWh, wind energy requires 3,458
square kilometers (1,335 square miles), a solar photovoltaic center
requires 8,384 square kilometers (3,237 square miles),
and coal plants use about 9,433 square kilometers (3,642 square
miles).
Geothermal energy systems are adaptable to many different
conditions.
They can be used to heat, cool, or power individual homes, whole
districts, or industrial processes.
Disadvantages
Harvesting geothermal energy still poses many challenges:
The process of injecting high-pressure streams of water into the
planet can result in minor seismic activity, or small earthquakes.
Geothermal plants have been linked to subsidence, or the slow
sinking of land. This happens as the underground fractures collapse
upon themselves. This can lead to damaged pipelines, roadways,
buildings, and natural drainage systems.
Geothermal plants can release small amounts of greenhouse gases
such as hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide.
Water that flows through underground reservoirs can pick up trace
amounts of toxic elements such as arsenic, mercury, and selenium.
These harmful substances can be leaked to water sources if the
geothermal system is not properly insulated.
Although the process requires almost no fuel to run, the initial cost
of installing geothermal technology is expensive. Developing
countries may not have the sophisticated infrastructure or start-up
costs to invest in a geothermal power plant. Several facilities in the
Philippines, for example, were made possible by investments from
U.S. industry and government agencies. Today, the plants are
Philippine-owned and operated.
Geothermal Energy and People
Geothermal energy exists in different forms all over Earth (by steam
vents, lava, geysers, or simply dry heat), and there are different
possibilities for extracting and using this heat.
Geothermal Energy
• Geothermal energy is the energy stored in the form of heat below the earth’s surface.
• Its potential is limitless in human terms and its energy is comparable to the sun.
• It is the thermal energy contained in the rock and fluid (that fills the fractures and
pores within the rock) in the earth's crust.
Sources of Earth’s Internal Energy
• 70% comes from the decay of radioactive nuclei with long half lives that are
embedded within the Earth.
• Some energy is from residual heat left over from Earths formation.
• The rest of the energy comes from meteorite impacts.
Different Geothermal Energy Sources
Hot Water Reservoirs: As the name implies these are reservoirs of hot
underground water. There is a large amount of them in the US, but they are more
suited for space heating than for electricity production.
Natural Stem Reservoirs: In this case a hole dug into the ground can cause steam
to come to the surface. This type of resource is rare in the US.
Geopressured Reservoirs: In this type of reserve, brine completely saturated with
natural gas in stored under pressure from the weight of overlying rock. This type of
resource can be used for both heat and for natural gas.
Normal Geothermal Gradient: At any place on the planet, there is a normal
temperature gradient of +300C per km dug into the earth. Therefore, if one digs
20,000 feet the temperature will be about 1900C above the surface temperature.
This difference will be enough to produce electricity. However, no useful and
economical technology has been developed to extracted this large source of energy.
Hot Dry Rock: This type of condition exists in 5% of the US. It is similar to Normal
Geothermal Gradient, but the gradient is 400C/km dug underground.
Molten Magma: No technology exists to tap into the heat reserves stored in
magma. The best sources for this in the US are in Alaska and Hawaii.
Direct uses of geothermal energy is appropriate for sources below 150ºC
• space heating
• air conditioning
• industrial processes
• drying
• Greenhouses
• Aquaculture
• hot water
• resorts and pools
• melting snow
How direct uses work:
Direct Sources function by sending water down a well to be heated by the Earth’s
warmth.
Then a heat pump is used to take the heat from the underground water to the
substance that heats the house.
Then after the water it is cooled is injected back into the Earth.
6.3 Geothermal plant types
There are basically three types of geothermal plants used to generate electricity. The type
of plant is determined primarily by the nature of the geothermal resource at the site.
6.3.1 Dry steam geothermal plants
These were the first type of geothermal power generation plants to be built. The
geothermal resource produces steam directly from the well. The steam, after passing
through separators (which remove small sand and rock particles) is fed to the turbine. It
has the configuration shown in Fig. 6.1. The first plant was established at Lardarello, Italy
in 1904.
Similar recent plants include the Geysers in Northern California (the world’s largest
single source of geothermal power). These plants emit only excess steam and very minor
amounts of gases. However, this steam resource is not available in abundance and these
plants exist in only a few places in the world.
6.3.2 Flash steam plants
These are employed in cases where the geothermal resource produces high temperature
hot water or a combination of steam and hot water (hydrothermal fluid - above 1820C but
not dry steam). The fluid is delivered from a well to a flash tank where a portion of the
water flashes to steam, due to a pressure reduction in the tank, and is directed to the
turbine. The remaining water may be directed to a second stage flash tank (where more
steam, at a lower pressure, is separated) - double flash plant; or the water may be directed
to disposal (usually the re-injection well).
6.3.3 Binary plant
This is applied in geothermal areas containing moderate-temperature water (below 4000F).
The name derives from the fact that a second fluid in a closed cycle is used to operate the
turbine rather than the geothermal steam.
6.7 Environmental impact of geothermal energy
All energy development and production impacts the environment to some degree. But use
of geothermal energy can greatly minimize these impacts, resulting in environmental
benefits for the local communities with growing energy needs.
Geothermal energy is clean and sustainable. Moreover, the geothermal energy is often a
replacement for diesel or other fossil fuels. Though geothermal power plants are associated
with some atmospheric emissions (predominantly CO2 and H2S), in the context of global
climatic changes, geothermal plants have significantly lower CO2 emissions than fossil fuels.
The atmospheric emissions average only about 5% of the emissions from equivalent
generation sized fuel power plants.
The actual land use for geothermal energy production is relatively small and
geothermal plants co-exist successfully with other land uses. The common practice of re-
injecting spent geothermal fluids back into the earth rather than into water masses means
the impacts on aquatic life are eliminated.
Adverse environmental impacts of geothermal development may include land
subsidence (degradation of the mineral constitution of the geothermal zone) and increased
microseismic activity.