As organic based fuels become more scarce, scientists are pushing for the research and development of green alternative fuel. A plethora of potential energy sources have been suggested: wind, solar, water, and nuclear to name a few. Although they’re organic, not all are available globally 24/7. There’s one more option, one that’s perpetual and discovered right under our feet: geothermal power.
The effects of coal and petroleum have left a sour taste in humanities mouth, which now seeks to find power that’s inexpensive, renewable, and ecologically friendly. Despite utilizing the sun, wind, water and nuclear energy for electrical power, there’s stil one natural resource that has yet to be harnessed. One that’s inexpensive, abundant, and effective: geothermal energy.
In order to fully comprehend why geothermal power is so important, here is a broken down explanation.
What Exactly Is Geothermal Energy?
Geothermal energy (literally heat from the earth in Greek), is really a phenomena caused by the constant decay of minerals within the earth, absorption of the sun’s rays, and the radiating heat from the Earth’s core, with a temperature of about 9,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Because of this, it’s perpetual and is found almost everywhere within the world.
How Does it Work?
So that you can create electricity, the real power source utilized in homes and offices, turbines need to be spun at power plants which charge a generator. Water and wind directly charge the generator while sun and nuclear energy indirectly turn them via steam. With geothermal power, heat extracted from rocks and hot springs radiates via turbines with steam. Normally, most geothermal plants harness power through heated water. However, new technology is being created that can harness thermal power directly from magma and with water can flash produce steam to spin turbines.
Efficiency?
According to the United States’ University of Florida, Hawaii, the island state west of California, has 1 geothermal plant which produces about 25 megawatts of power for about 5 cents per watt. In total; 1 geothermal plant accounts for about 1/4 from the entire states electricity. One geothermal plant accounts for the same power as roughly three nuclear plants. This is simply because geothermal energy is run 24/7 as opposed to nuclear plants which spend time switching fuel rods and shutting off the core each night.
Abundance?
Wherever there is earth, there’s geothermal power. Nevertheless, land near tectonic plates, where volcanos, earthquakes, and geysers are discovered, are the easiest places to extract heat. The only thing this means is thermal plants not in these areas must dig deeper to access much more heat.
Environmental Effects?
The only waste produced is going to become heat; not so bad! Furthermore, geothermal energy plants are smaller than most, reducing visual pollution and preventing sights like “wind vane forests”.
So there you’ve it. Geothermal Energy provides promising gains for humanity. With the efficiency of nuclear power without the waste or visual pollution, it provides the greatest gains of any of the option fuels.
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