Preview

Geothermal Energy

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
636 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Geothermal Energy
"If we truly want an innovative and creative renewable fuel industry, then it needs to be challenged. And if we create a set of protections that allow it to not be as creative and innovative as possible, then we aren't doing a service to the industry or to the people of this country."- Jimmy Carter, April 18th, 1977. The threat to the environment has been a persisting issue for more than just a few years. Yet, only now is when the public has been made aware of the certain "complication". Luckily, we have had a certain amount of new "alternative energy resources" been introduced to us. These new energy sources range from using almost all natural resources as suppliers. Some are quite complex while others just needed a little brainpower. One quite complex energy source is one of geothermal energy. Harnessing geothermal energy is an art in itself. It is the process of capturing the Earth's internal heat in the core. This and many other energy sources are being implemented today to build a better tomorrow.

Origins:

As far as what is geothermal energy, it's origins date back to hundreds of thousands of years ago. The word geo is the Greek word for Earth and the word therme is the Greek word for heat. So geothermal energy is the heat energy from inside the earth. The heat from the Earth was originally used for bathing. The hot, mineral rich water was thought, and still is, to contain natural healing abilities. Much later on though, the first genuine heat pumps were being tapped and therefore gave birth to the true power of geothermal energy (Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Annual 2005).

Geothermal energy is generated in the earth's core, about 4,000 miles below the surface. Temperatures hotter than the sun's surface are continuously produced inside the earth by the slow decay of radioactive particles, a process that happens in all rocks. The earth has a number of different layers: The core itself has two layers: a solid iron core and an outer

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Eco/304 Week 2 Essay

    • 2058 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Geothermal heat pump doesn 't create heat by burning fuel, like a furnace does. Heating utilizes the natural temperature of the ground at about 10 feet and below which averages about 68 degrees Fahrenheit. In winter it collects the Earth 's natural heat through a series of pipes, called a loop, installed below the surface of the ground or submersed in a pond or lake. Fluid circulates through the loop and carries the heat to the house where an electrically driven compressor and a heat exchanger concentrate the Earth 's energy and release it inside the home at a higher temperature. Ductwork distributes the heat to different rooms. In summer, the process is inverted. The underground loop draws excess heat from the house and allows it to be absorbed by the Earth. The system cools your home in the same way that a refrigerator keeps your food cool, by drawing heat from the interior, not by blowing in cold…

    • 2058 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “The Island of the Wind” the author Elizabeth Kolbert states that the finding of new creative solutions to reduce excess carbon discharges, and the building of reusable energy models have been found as new answers to climate change and fuel derived from prehistoric organisms. In this article it discusses how power is one of the basic and essential needs of our planet. It is the basis of mostly everything from the function of our homes to automobiles; therefore, to reduce the carbon footprint a group of individuals came together and created a new innovative solution involving geothermal power. In the early 2000’s results started showing that hydrocarbon deposit use had been reduced to half the amount which was once used. Years later, the importation of electromagnetisms was no longer a must because, the land was instead transporting it to other places, and the amount of production which was being done used from reusable material came out with the outcome of producing more energy than it was using. The invention of machines with rotors played a huge role in this project. It generated anywhere from the middle of twenty million to eighty million each year. With the total of these numbers, there was enough demand in meeting all of the lands supply of electromagnetism, along with supplying the entire population. In addition to these energy machines, there was also teleheating.This system was being used for distributing space heating and aquatic heating to generated locations such as residential and commercial living. However, in order for telaheating to properply run one main source must be present. In this case that would biological material from living, or recently living organisms. Therefore, this process provides higher efficiencies and cuts more than twenty hundrend tons of carbonic acid yearly. On the other hand, in the article “Wind Power Puffery” written by H. Sterling Burnett, the author argues that geothermal power is often overly praised with the results it…

    • 819 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    case study 3

    • 853 Words
    • 4 Pages

    -Birds Eye became a vertical integrated producer because of the undeveloped infrastructure of the market. In the 50’s and 60’s the frozen food market was in their infant stage from raw materials suppliers, to distributors, and retail chains. Since Birds Eye had the resources and capabilities they invested in harvesting equipment for raw material supplies, financed purchasing of refrigerators to help distributors and retail chains. With Birds Eye using all their resources and capabilities it allowed them to control and manage their entire supply chain.…

    • 853 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Geothermal energy production works by the radioactive decay f several types of rocks containing radioactive substances (such as uranium) releasing heat energy. In the volcanic areas in Iceland, the rocks heat the water so that it then rises to the surface (naturally) as hot water and steam. The steam can then be used to drive turbines and electricity generators, thus creating the energy used to heat homes & greenhouses, and other reasons such as fish farming and other electricity in general.…

    • 695 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Li, M and Lior, N, 2014, ‘Comparative Analysis of Power Plant Options for Enhanced Geothermal…

    • 1465 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Do you know what area has the most geothermal activity in the world? Even though other places have geothermal activity, Yellowstone National Park was established in 1872 and covers the largest area, encompasses nearly 3,500 square miles. The park has Old faithful geyser, Lake Yellowstone which is in the caldera of a dormant volcano, and the park also has bubbling mud pots, hot springs and hot colorful pools.…

    • 461 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In 1977, Robert Ballard and J.F. Grassle of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Instution, were diving in Alvin near the Galapagos Islands when they discovered rocky chimneys up to 20 meters high. These chimneys were emitting dark, mineral-laden water that reached temperatures of 350 degrees Celsius. The occupants of Alvin had discovered the first documented hydrothermal vent.…

    • 1268 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Heat is continually produced there, mostly from the decay of naturally radioactive materials such as uranium and potassium. The most common current way of capturing the energy from geothermal sources is to tap into naturally occurring "hydrothermal convection" systems where cooler water seeps into Earth's crust, is heated up, and then rises to the surface. When heated water is forced to the surface, it is a relatively simple matter to capture that steam and use it to drive electric generators. Geothermal power plants drill their own holes into the rock to more effectively capture the…

    • 2042 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A hydrothermal vent is a fissure in a planet's surface from which geothermally heated water issues. Hydrothermal vents are commonly found near volcanically active places, areas where tectonic plates are moving apart, ocean basins, an hotspots Hydrothermal vents exist because the earth is both geologically active and has large amounts of water on its surface and within its crust. Common land types include hot springs, fumaroles and geysers. Under the sea, hydrothermal vents may form features called Black Smokers. The areas around submarine hydrothermal vents are biologically more productive. Chemosynthetic archaea form the base of the food chain, supporting diverse organisms, including giant tube worms clams, limpets, and shrimp.…

    • 302 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Volcanoes also produce geothermic energy which is heat from the earth this can be harnessed to produce…

    • 281 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Hydraulic Fracturing

    • 2816 Words
    • 12 Pages

    Domestic reserves of natural gas beneath the earth’s surface are massive. Gas drilling booms have popped up in numerous states throughout the country-Wyoming, Colorado, North Dakota, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas and Pennsylvania, to name a few. Halliburton Corp. developed a way to mine horizontally. In 1990, boring parallel to the horizontal layers of shale exposed gas deposits, from which Halliburton reaped the profits. There is no denying that America needs alternative fuel sources, and this is one way to ease the demand on foreign oil. Ernest Moniz, director of MIT Energy Initiative, believes natural gas is a bridge to a low-carbon future until alternative sources such as wind, solar and geothermal become more viable. He states natural gas…

    • 2816 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    HILO,HI-The topic of geothermal energy here on the Big Island has been an on ongoing debate for almost the past two decades. Without personal insight, geothermal energy seems to have no negative side to it. “Who wouldn’t want to go green? Isn’t having renewable energy a good thing?” are the type of questions that come to mind when asked to form an argument for it. Alas, residents of Leilani estates, a neighborhood in the district of Puna, have been pestering the Big Island’s county council with their arguments about the geothermal power plant, Puna Geothermal Venture, and how it’s been negatively affecting their lives.…

    • 1194 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hydrothermal Vents

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages

    According to the link, the water temperature of hydrothermal vents is much warmer than normal for…

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A venting black smoker emits jets of particle-laden fluids. The particles are predominantly very fine-grained sulfide minerals formed when the hot hydrothermal fluids mix with near-freezing seawater. These minerals solidify as they cool, forming chimney-like structures. “Black smokers” are chimneys formed from deposits of iron sulfide, which is black. “White smokers” are chimneys formed from deposits of barium, calcium, and silicon, which are white.…

    • 244 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    His sister’s creations travelled from their distant spiritual homeland, beneath sea and land in the form of fire. Wherever they paused to rise to the surface they left part of their fire, creating the geothermal system that remains today.…

    • 391 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays