The Benefits Of Using Geothermal Energy From Under The Ground
Geothermal energy derives its power from the natural heat of the Earth stored beneath its surface and is harnessed through heat exchangers to be used for generation of electricity in a variety of application areas. Geothermal power plants use the earth’s heat and other natural sources such as rainfall, solar radiation, submersible pumps, geothermal wells, and geothermal pumping to tap into geothermal energy resources for the production of electricity. There are two geothermal power plants currently active in Indonesia: the Setara Thermal Power Station and the Watmoolah Thermal Energy Project.
The Setara Thermal Power Station is located in Central Java on the east coast of Borneo, with a depth of about 300 meters and using geothermal wells to heat an area of about five hundred square kilometers of comparatively low ground temperature. This plant produces more than twenty-five billion kilowatts of electricity each year, mostly from burning of coal and wood for generating heat. The geothermal heating is achieved through the use of geothermal heat pumps that utilize the earth’s heat to transfer heat to the air circulating through the station. The heat pump station is separated by an average thickness of about ten meters of soil.
The Watmoolah Thermal Energy Project is a geothermal energy project located on the northern part of Borneo, with a depth of about one hundred meters. It uses geothermal wells and geothermal pumps to draw groundwater from deeper areas of the earth, resulting in a substantial rise in temperatures and a corresponding rise in temperature at the surface of the earth. The core of the earth has warmed to about ten degrees Celsius above the atmospheric average. The Watmoolah Thermal Energy Project has the capacity to produce enough electricity to meet the electrical needs of more than thirty thousand families.
With both geothermal power plants and solar projects are becoming more prevalent in the recent years, there has been a growing need for geothermal electric capacity. This is because it is much cheaper to install small systems compared to large ones. The installation of a medium sized geothermal electric capacity of ten thousand kilowatts can significantly cut down the cost of geothermal power.
Home Heating: With global warming being one of the most dominant world-wide issues, the use of geothermal power has increased. Many homes are now using geothermal heating systems to provide for their everyday home heating. This method uses the earth’s natural heat to make the home hot in winter and cool in summer. It works on the same principle as that of geothermal wells, which were found centuries ago. Geothermal homes do not need the intervention of a central heating system because the warmth emitted by the earth’s crust can keep homes warm even during the nights.
Geothermal wells are located below the earth’s surface. These underground veins of heat can be accessed through a process of intense exploration and drilling. Well, boreholes have been found which contain magma stored in the Earth’s core. In this type of geothermal system, magma is pumped into a hole and then the heat from the magma is utilized to heat homes or any other structure that needs to be heated. The heat produced is very expensive compared to other forms of energy but the geothermal energy does not deplete unlike other forms of energy which are constantly being used up.
How Do We Use Geothermal Energy? There are now geothermal energy plants that are being built to tap into these natural resources located beneath the earth’s surface. Scientists have calculated that there are about fifteen geothermal wells which are estimated to be sitting at least two to three miles deep within our crust. With magma stored deep within the Earth, scientists estimate that there are about twenty-five million geothermal wells which are estimated to be sitting between two to fifteen miles deep within our crust.
This is just the beginning of how we are utilizing geothermal wells and geothermal reservoirs. Scientists have also estimated that there are more than fifty-five billion cubic miles of natural gas, ten billion cubic feet of methane and four trillion gallons of freshwater locked away in our planet’s deep crust. This resource alone could supply the energy needs of Australia, Canada, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Norway, Chile and the United States for a year. If you were to convert all the geothermal reservoirs that we currently use into electrical power, you could power America for a year! So why aren’t we using this brilliant source of renewable energy?
