With the advent of new technology and a range of government rebates and initiatives the vast resource of geothermal-energi is becoming a prominent player in the alternative energy market.
Governments are increasingly looking toward geothermal energy as a clean and effective alternative energy source.
In what is looking like the new boom industry governments are investing heavily in the research and development of geothermal energy technology.
It is predicted that geothermal energy use will double in the next six years.
In the United States the Department of Energy unveiled a $28.4 Billion budget request for the 2011 year. The geothermal program will gain a 25per cent boost in funding.
Alongside this industry will gain a boost in an incentive that will allow developers to recoup 30 per cent of the cost of a new plant.
In the early twentieth century Geothermal Energy was established as a means of direct heating and producing power.
It involves drilling a well into geothermal heat sources, from between 100 metres to ten kilometres. Hot steam or water is piped up from below and is used either for direct heating or transferred into electricity.
The technology has been rated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency as the most environmentally clean and effective source of alternative energy.
There are four main types of geothermal energy.
Hydrothermal resources are available 100 metres to 4.5 kilometres beneath the earth’s surface and are usually used for direct heating purposes.
The hydrothermal resource is captured by drilling into the earth to accessible water between 180 and 350 degrees Celsius and extracting the hot water or steam. Heat is transferred from below the surface into a pump that delivers the heat energy.
Geo-pressured resources exist between three to six kilometres beneath the surface where reservoirs of water and methane exist in the range of 90 to 200 degrees Celsius. The water is pumped to the surface to be used in direct heating or converted into electricity.
Hot dry rock is a virtually limitless resource and more accessible than any other geothermal resources. This extraction method often involves drilling two wells; water is pumped down the first and subsequently heated and returned to earth to be converted into energy. New technologies are being developed to take advantage of this wealth of energy.
The not easily accessible Magma is the largest geothermal resource. Found at depths of between three and ten kilometres it has a temperature ranging from 700 to 1200 degrees Celsius and is the most powerful of geothermal resources although existing technology does not allow for the extraction of energy from magma.
With industry and government support now firmly invested in geothermal energy its uses in modern power production and development will continue to grow.
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