Here are 5 of the uses of geothermal energy:
1. Aquaculture and horticulture: Geothermal renewable energy is used in aquaculture, and horticulture, in order to raise plants and marine life that require a tropical environment. The steam and heat is all supplied by geothermal energy.
2. Industry and agriculture: Geothermal power generation is playing an increasing role in industry and agriculture. Timber is dried using heat acquired from geothermal energy, and paper mills use it for all stages of processing. The potential uses of geothermal energy in industry are huge.
3. Food Processing: The earth naturally contains an endless supply of heat and steam, which can be utilized to sterilize equipment and rooms. This would put an end to the use of chemicals for this purpose. There are many potential uses of geothermal energy in food processing, but as yet, this renewable energy source has yet to be utilized to a large degree in this sector.
4. Providing heat for residential use: Geothermal renewable energy has in the last few years caught the interest of an increasing number of house owners. Geothermal power generation provides more than just heat in summer; but a complete temperature control system which enables you to cool your home in winter as well. This significantly reduces heating and cooling bills, and keeps the home at a comfortable temperature year round.
5. Electricity generation: A geothermal power station works in a very different way to the geothermal power generation that would be used in the examples above. It provides not just heat and steam, but electricity itself. Geothermal power generation is completely clean, and releases no harmful gas emissions whatsoever.
Many readers of this article will be most interested in single-home geothermal energy. As was explained, its use is limited to heating and cooling. However, indoor climate control can consume an enormous amount of energy in a big house, and by installing a geothermal heat pump this energy bill can be greatly reduced. Geothermal heat pumps move heat from below the ground into the home in winter and draw heat from your house into the ground in summer.
Most geothermal energy pumps are simple and require little maintenance. They are not, however, a full-service solution. Some systems reduce energy bills by up to 40%, so you cannot get rid of your utility company straight away. One option is to install a small solar panel system to run the pump, and in doing so make you completely self dependant. A geothermal energy pump which can supply an average home’s needs costs around $8,000, however, the drilling and installation process cost in the region of $30,000. For the original story, and further information on the uses of geothermal energy, click here
For more information, go to:
en.wikipedia.org,
geothermal-energy.org
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23 Responses to “Geothermal Energy: 5 types and the beneficial uses; updated article”
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A US Government energy agency has estimated that the overall sum of energy that global geothermal could provide is around 15,000 times the energy that is held in all the known oil and gas reserves in the world. This of-course is somewhat of a fanciful figure on its own (it doesn’t really mean much), but it does turn heads. I truly believe that geothermal is going to be the biggest of al the green energy resources currently at our disposal.
December 22nd, 2010 at 5:50 amRegarding negative impacts (the last comment), there is also the issue that geothermal resources are often located in remote wildneress areas. Plants require only a small amount of land, but there are issues concerning the lying of transmission lines from these remote areas to urban areas.
December 22nd, 2010 at 5:46 amIts not all rosy for geothermal. Groundwater and surfacewater contamination is the principal pollution concern, through the disposal of wastewater. On the plus side,this is easily prevented, as long as all the fuids are colleced and re-injected.
December 22nd, 2010 at 5:44 amGeothermal plants are viable 24 hours a day, which is a HUGE advantage over wind and solar. This eliminates the need for energy storage and makes it completly predictable, which is of great value.
December 22nd, 2010 at 5:29 amI really liked this post. You explain this topic very well. I really enjoy reading your blog and I will definetly bookmark it! Keep up the super posts! 🙂
October 21st, 2010 at 2:18 pmNevada is one of the best states for geothermal energy. There are an enormous amount of easily accessible geothermal wells there, as in the western US in general. This is the area of the country that holds most promise from householders all the way up to electricity producing plants.
September 7th, 2010 at 9:55 amRegarding food processing – The first one built in the US was a food hydration facility in Navada. It processes something like 2- million pounds of dried onions and garlic per year, and uses geothermal power in to help run its operations.
September 7th, 2010 at 9:52 amHi, That was a outstanding post, I really liked reading your site. I am going to save it and will make sure to visit weekly.
September 6th, 2010 at 2:43 amI really liked this post. You explain this topic very well. I really like your blog and I will definetly bookmark it! Keep up the super posts! 🙂
September 3rd, 2010 at 4:24 pmI really liked this post. You write about this topic very well. I really like your blog and I will definetly bookmark it! Keep up the great posts! 🙂
September 3rd, 2010 at 4:00 pmGeothermal systems benefit greatly from economies of scale. Setting up a system to power one building is not that efficient (in terms of start up costs), but if you can disitribute the power to multiple buildings, or even communities (as is done in Iceland) it is well worth it.
September 3rd, 2010 at 9:30 amStats from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency say that geo-exchange systems, on avergae, cut homeowner’s heating costs from 30 to 70%, and colling costs, from 20-50%. Not particularly impressive stats me think.
September 3rd, 2010 at 9:18 amlove the information here hope to read more
September 3rd, 2010 at 7:34 amI’m looking forward to your next infos.
September 2nd, 2010 at 10:17 amI really enjoyed this post. You explained this topic very well. I really love your blog and I will definitely bookmark it! Keep up the interesting posts!
August 31st, 2010 at 3:49 pmAccording to Wiki, in a typical sized house with average energy comsumption, current geothermal pump systems will pay themselves back within 3 to 10 year, which is better than most solar systems. Apparently, the annual growth rate for this technology is 10% so i dont agree with the last post.
August 31st, 2010 at 2:43 pmProviding heat for residential use is just two expensive right now. Very few people are going to fork out 40,000 grand when next year the technology could change and it will cost half that amount. At present its only worth it for very big houses with very large energy consumption
August 31st, 2010 at 2:41 pmIM not sure if this article clearly distinguished between electricity generation (via a power station), and heat generation (via a pump). They are two very different things warranting two seperate articles. It is electricity generation where geothermal has big potential.
August 31st, 2010 at 2:38 pmEye-popping posting bro. This important is just a particularly nicely structured article post on the blog, just the data I was hunting to find. Thanks
August 29th, 2010 at 8:44 amthanks a lot. u’re a big help for my pyhsics project.
August 29th, 2010 at 3:51 amI tried it, and it worked fine
August 29th, 2010 at 3:08 amI’m really to be finally posting online after all these years. There really is no mystique (sp) about it, is there? I just dropped by your blog and had to write. I’m a recent college grad, journalism major if you must know, and I love photography. I’ve got my website up but it’s nothing to boast about yet. None of my stuff’s been posted. Soon as I figure out how to do that, I’ll spend the day posting my best pictures. anyways just thought I’d drop a line. I hope to return with more substantial stuff, stuff you can actually use. SPG
August 18th, 2010 at 5:48 pmI really liked this post. You explain this topic very well. I really enjoy reading your blog and I will definetly bookmark it! Keep up the great posts! 🙂
August 17th, 2010 at 7:48 pm