When referring to the phrase ‘renewable energy’, most people think of popular techniques like wind turbines or solar photovoltaic panels. However, there is a resource that we can drill for that doesn’t have an end in sight. Geothermal energy is natural heat from within the Earth that can be mined from beneath the surface to produce electricity and passively heat buildings. This type of energy has many advantages over fossil fuels; especially that it is a renewable fuel and it is widely available. Advancements in the detection of geothermal wells have uncovered how abundant the resource is and that we can potentially replace a large portion of our energy production with this renewable fuel. Geothermal is a scarcely used source of energy but its abundance should be recognized and utilized as soon as possible in order to reduce carbon emissions and lessen the effects of climate change.
In October of this year, Southern Methodist University completed a study, funded by Google, which uncovered just how vast West Virginia’s supply of geothermal energy is. West Virginia currently has a capacity for just over 16,000mW of electricity, primarily through the use of coal fired power plants. According to the recent study, West Virginia holds the potential to produce almost 19,000mW through use of geothermal energy wells below the Earth’s crust. A study in 2006 led by MIT had estimated about half of this supply, and even following that discovery, West Virginia still has yet to take steps in developing the market for geothermal energy. West Virginia has the potential to boost its economy and promote clean energy if it takes steps to invest in geothermal energy.
The federal government has taken initiative in promoting the use of geothermal energy through the Energy Policy Act of 2005. It subsidized the use of geothermal heat pumps through the use of tax credits, and the Department of Energy has funded projects to locate geothermal wells across the country. However, large scale energy production policies have yet to formulate. Construction of power plants that are run primarily by geothermal energy would be a huge step in promoting clean energy. Once it is proven to the general public that we don’t need to burn fossil fuels to achieve the same result, geothermal should become widespread. The potential for energy production is eye opening and the funding needed to convert the speculation into progress is just one federal policy away.
I agree with promoting geothermal power. Considering that all standard forms of power generation are really just different ways of heating up water into steam, it makes almost obvious sense to find a way to heat things up at no cost to us. This also applies to heating buildings. The temperature even just a few tens of feet below the ground stays almost constant year round; tapping into this source of climate consistency would certainly be an incredibly sustainable and sensible way to heat our buildings. The potential for geothermal is great, as you said, and it really is significant that really no matter where you are on the planet you can tap into this source of energy. It really is a wonder given how much we know about the availability and promise of wind, solar, and geothermal that we have yet to make the transition
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that geothermal energy is a renewable form of energy that should be explored, there are also some negatives. First, geothermal energy is expensive on the individual level. Each house would have to install updated technology is receive energy from the heat pumps. Also, in order to use geothermal energy there has to be a mechanism for transferring it to the grid a house is on. This process would almost certainly require electricity from a source other than geothermal energy. Finally, a area that is identified as a geothermal hotspot can one day stop producing steam. In this way the energy is not always reliable. However, I agree this is one way to distance ourselves from fossil fuels and needs to be further explored.
ReplyDeleteGeothermal energy would undoubtably be a great thing to come to West Virginia because it would reduce its economic dependance on coal and provide a clean source of energy. However, I do not think there will be any signifficant geothermal capacity installed in the near future because the coal industry is to deeply rooted in the area and geothermal development would compete directly with the coal plants. It would take a huge political innitiative inorder to make geothermal energy in West Virginia feasable. Also, as with many non mainstrean technologies the initial costs can be very high which would be a deterant to development. In conclusion I do not expect to see and significant geothermal developement in West Virginia in the near future.
ReplyDelete-John Marshall
I completely agree that implementing geothermal energy practices in West Virginia would be a monumental step in our nation's desire to shift to cleaner energies. Once we can begin to recognize that geology and geography should play major roles in states' decisions to use a certain type of energy, we can start heading in that direction. Places like WV and California would be optimal states for geothermal because of their locations relative to tectonic plate boundaries. While geothermal wells do release greenhouse gases stored deep within the earth, they are much lower per energy unit than those of fossil fuels like coal. By placing geothermal wells all across the world, gradually phasing out coal plants, the problem of global warming could be greatly mitigated. In addition, geothermal power is considered sustainable because projected heat extraction is minute compared to the earth's overall heat content, as long as local extraction is monitored to avoid depletion. It will be hard to shift from coal to geothermal, especially in WV, but if more research is conducted and evidence can be provided that it can create many jobs without losing more to shifting away from coal, then I think that it could be a sustainable and economically viable option for West Virginia.
ReplyDeleteGeothermal would be a great way to wean WV off coal. However I do have concerns on the Geothermal operations it self. I was reading a popular science artical about a Swiss scientist who was fined for experimentin with Enhanced Geothermal which was near a fault line and inadvertantly causing earthquakes. My second concern would be posible contamination of neighboring water wells. Because WV has so many coal seams it most likly has a couple fault lines which would encourage seismic activity. it may also make it difficult to control what gets into the local water supply. this may be one reason why the state is hesitant to build geothermal power plants.
ReplyDeleteIt is a very good news for West Virginia to be able to switch from coals to geothermal energy. Economically speaking, as Chris has mentioned, it could provide a lot of job opportunities to the residents of West Virginia. It has also been proved to be cheaper than all the other renewable resources, as well as coal and nuclear. It is as low as 3.6 cents per kilowatt-hour, as opposed to coal which is 5.5 cents per kilowatt-hour. This is due to the rate of change in prices. As more and more innovative ideas are coming along, demand for geothermal energy is getting higher, lowering the cost. Prices of coal and nuclear energy are falling at a far slower rate and will continue in the same pattern in the future.
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