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.
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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.
 

 

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