geothermal energy

The earth beneath our feet contains a significant amount of energy in the form of heat. This is referred to as geothermal energy and has the potential to generate geothermal power to provide large communities with a renewable electricity supply.

The production of electricity from geothermal energy sources can be a highly efficient means of delivering clean and renewable electricity to many people. Location is of key importance for the development of an efficient geothermal power station and therefore, economically viable levels of electricity can only be generated in certain areas of the world. There are only a handful of locations across the world that are capable of producing viable and efficient levels of electricity.

There are a variety of different geothermal power station designs, each of which offers a unique way of extracting geothermal energy. The three main power plant designs which utilise geothermal as an energy source are as follows:

             Dry Steam
             Flash Steam
             Binary-Cycle

Underground reservoirs of steam and hot water can be tapped to generate electricity or to heat and cool buildings directly.

A geothermal heat pump system can take advantage of the constant temperature of the upper ten feet (three meters) of the Earth's surface to heat a home in the winter, while extracting heat from the building and transferring it back to the relatively cooler ground in the summer.

To produce geothermal-generated electricity, wells, sometimes a mile (1.6 kilometers) deep or more, are drilled into underground reservoirs to tap steam and very hot water that drive turbines linked to electricity generators.

There are many advantages of geothermal energy. It can be extracted without burning a fossil fuel such as coal, gas, or oil. Geothermal fields produce only about one-sixth of the carbon dioxide that a relatively clean natural-gas-fueled power plant produces. Binary plants release essentially no emissions. Unlike solar and wind energy, geothermal energy is always available, 365 days a year. It's also relatively inexpensive; savings from direct use can be as much as 80 percent over fossil fuels.

Investment in geothermal energy

The geothermal energy investment future is predicted to grow, especially as more people reduce or eliminate the use of foreign oil and fossil fuels, and turn to more environmentally friendly alternative energy options. Geothermal energy comes from areas where there is large amounts of heat in the earth, such as where the plates of the earth's crust come together. Wartburg International offer a terrific investment opportunity for many investors.