Geothermal Energy

What IS Geothermal Energy?

Energy that comes from the natural heat of the Earth.

That heat comes from deep within the Earth, reaching all the way to the Earth’s core.

It can be used to create heat.

It can also be used to generate electricity.

Where Geothermal Energy Is Found

Mostly found around plate boundaries.

Types of geothermal energy: Volcanoes Hot Springs Geysers Fumaroles (openings in the planet’s crust)

Types Of Geothermal Power Plants

There are three types:

Dry Steam

Flash Steam

Binary Cycle

Dry Steam Plants Were the first geothermal power generators built, which was

at 1904 in Italy.

Generates energy by pushing steam into a vent and towards a turbine/generator to produce electricity.

The steam is then converted into water and injected into the ground.

Dry steam plants can produce 2,000 megawatts an hour if they are at peak production.

Flash Steam Plants They are the most common kind of geothermal power plants.

They use water at high temperatures (182°C) that is pumped using high pressure towards a generator.

On reaching the generator, the pressure is reduced, making some of the water convert or “flash” into steam.

Like dry steam plants, the steam is used to power a turbine/generator to generate electricity.

The left over water and the cooled water are returned back to the surface.

Binary Cycle Unlike the dry and flash steam plants, the steam from the

geothermal reservoir does not come into contact with the turbine/generator

The water from the ground is sent into a heat exchanger, in which the heat is then absorbed by a liquid.

The steam from that liquid is then used to power the turbines/generators.

The liquid then condenses to it’s liquid state and repeats the process.

Geothermal Pollution Geothermal plants don’t burn fuel of any kind, and does not

emit pollution on a large scale. Geothermal plants release less than 1% of the C02

emissions of a fossil fuel plant. They also emit 97% less acid rain-causing sulfur that is

emitted from fossil fuel plants.

The only kind of pollution geothermal energy makes is from some of the toxic gases that are in the steam from below ground.