Is geothermal energy renewable

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Is geothermal energy renewable?

  • Geothermal energy is a renewable energy and is in the fourth place of renewable energy behind solar, wind and hydro energy.
  • The Earth is radiating the heat out continuously from its crust, the heat will continue for billions of years because of the on-going radioactive decay inside the earth’s core. Therefore, geothermal plants were active for 24x7 in producing the electricity. Also, it is considered the cheapest clean energy. Since it is not a fossil fuel it is competing with coal for government research funding.

Geothermal energy comes in 3 main ways

  • Direct thermal transmission of energy from the core and mantle. Since it is slow it is not effective source of heat

  • Direct thermal transmission where earths crust is ruptured. This is effective source of geothermal energy but it can be found is only limited location

  • Hot rock geothermal. past volcanic or sub volcanic activity. There are lot of locations with past volcanic or sub volcanic. This form of energy is effectively non renewable in that once the stored heat is used, it is gone. It is not being replaced by new heat coming from below, well not at a rate that would be of any use to us. While non renewable, it is a non carbon energy source, So often lumped with the non fossil renewable energy sources.

Geothermal Energy Renewable

Geothermal energy is the heat from the Earth. It’s clean and sustainable. Resources of geothermal energy range from the shallow ground to hot water and hot rock found a few miles beneath the Earth’s surface, and down even deeper to the extremely high temperatures of molten rock called magma.

Geothermal Energy Renewable

Almost everywhere, the shallow ground or upper 10 feet of the Earth’s surface maintains a nearly constant temperature between 50° and 60°F (10° and 16°C). Geothermal heat pumps can tap into this resource to heat and cool buildings. A geothermal heat pump system consists of a heat pump, an air delivery system (ductwork), and a heat exchanger-a system of pipes buried in the shallow ground near the building. In the winter, the heat pump removes heat from the heat exchanger and pumps it into the indoor air delivery system.

In the summer, the process is reversed, and the heat pump moves heat from the indoor air into the heat exchanger. The heat removed from the indoor air during the summer can also be used to provide a free source of hot water.

Geothermal Energy Renewable

In the United States, most geothermal reservoirs of hot water are located in the western states, Alaska, and Hawaii. Wells can be drilled into underground reservoirs for the generation of electricity. Some geothermal power plants use the steam from a reservoir to power a turbine/ generator, while others use the hot water to boil a working fluid that vaporizes and then turns a turbine. Hot water near the surface of Earth can be used directly for heat.

Geothermal Energy Renewable

Direct-use applications include heating buildings, growing plants in greenhouses, drying crops, heating water at fish farms, and several industrial processes such as pasteurizing milk. Hot dry rock resources occur at depths of 3 to 5 miles everywhere beneath the Earth’s surface and at lesser depths in certain areas. Access to these resources involves injecting cold water down one well, circulating it through hot fractured rock, and drawing off the heated water from another well. Currently, there are no commercial applications of this technology. Existing technology also does not yet allow recovery of heat directly from magma, the very deep and most powerful resource of geothermal energy.