GeoThermal for Green Construction
November 20, 2009
As fossil fuels are becoming increasingly harder to come by, and the rate at which we exhaust energy continues to increase, the importance of finding alternative energy sources becomes all the more critical. Geothermal energy is one such solution. Using the right tools, the earth’s heat can be a powerful energy source.
Why Go Geothermal
There are many benefits to using geothermal energy. For starters, it provides a “clean” and safe power source that requires little land. It is renewable, sustainable, and reliable. It accesses a continuous power base, and helps to diversify our energy sources, as well conserve the limited amount of fossil fuels left. Local economies will also benefit and importing becomes unnecessary. It even provides a means to power remote sites.
Technology and Accessibility
Technology today allows us to tap into this renewable energy source. How? By using a combination of techniques and drilling equipment. Data is collected from various means such as electrical, magnetic, chemical and seismic surveys. Geologists and drillers then study the data to determine whether drilling is possible. The geothermal reservoirs that are befitting commercial use can only be found by drilling.
At the residential level, geothermal water can be piped from wells in order to provide heat to homes. With one or more wells, you can provide energy to an entire district. In this case, the water is passed through a heat exchanger plant that allows city water to be heated in individual pipes. It can even be piped to heat exchangers to warm the air in buildings.
Large drill rigs are needed to make these production-sized wells possible. These can be as costly as a million dollars or more just to drill. On large drilling rigs, work continues twenty-four hrs out of the day, and can even reach depths over two miles deep.
.
Geothermal in Use
Today, we live in a world that becomes increasingly dependant on electricity the more time passes, for everything from running the simplest of household appliances, running a business, or even to light our cities at night. With coal accounting for over 55% of the United States electricity, and over half of our oil consumption being imported in from other countries, we simply can not sustain the rate at which we are burning through these resources.
On the other hand, geothermal heat is produced continuously, with infinite supply. To give an idea of just how much heat energy is saved up beneath the earth’s surface, within 10,000 meters the amount exceeds that of all the oil and natural gas resources by a whopping 50,000 times! This is an invaluable resource that we can’t afford to ignore.
The Future of GeoThermal Energy
November 5, 2009
Opportunities for geothermal power as a larger contributor to future global energy production require substantial increases in drilling and drilling rig technical innovation, reduced start-up costs for drilling companies, public education about geothermal energy and the roles drilling rigs play within this energy sector, and a level economic and regulatory playing field with other competing energy sources.
North American output alone could increase through use of current drilling technology alone with the help of joint government-industry programs. This is partially due to most easily-accessible geothermal systems (hot springs, surface geysers, etc.) are already known and have already been substantially developed. Substantial increases in geothermal energy production, however, require new exploration processes and improved drilling/exploration technology in order to reach those geothermal systems that are either difficult to reach, currently undiscovered, or both.
Advancements in such exploratory issues are hampered by the significant economic risks required to invest in geothermal drilling and drill rig technology. It is hoped that new growth in the capacity to generate geothermal energy will happen by virtue of drilling for new water-dominated geothermal fields in the very near future. Investors and experts in drill rig technology are counting on new core hole evaluation technologies providing the technological boost needed to reduce these high risks. Unfortunately, core hole evaluation technologies will not suffice without the assistance of new equipment and methodologies needed to conduct reservoir evaluation and testing during core drilling.
Another source often overlooked by the public and lawmakers is the Earth’s magma. While steam and hot water reservoirs are cheap, easily accessible, and familiar, they only comprise a small portion of the Earth’s total geothermal energy supply. The Earth’s magma can provide cheap, clean, and a virtually infinite amount of energy once drill rigs and other related drilling technology is capable of accessing it. There are new drilling methods currently under development that promise to tap into these deeper resources in order to provide low-cost, renewable electricity worldwide. This technology will become feasible once it is capable of drilling enough boreholes from 4 to 10 miles deep at a reasonable cost. One hope of increasing economic feasibility is through the use of by-products created during the geothermal drilling process. Products such as zinc and silica can be recovered from geothermal brine, while distilled water is also created as a result of geothermal energy production. There is also some possibility of combining geothermal drilling activities with pollution control exercises.
Subscribe
