Nuclear decay inside the earth continually generates all of the energy we need, heating all but the top .1% of the earth’s crust to temperatures hot enough to boil water. As we go deeper into the earth, temperatures go as high as 6,000°C, hotter than the surface of the sun!
Geothermal power plants cleanly and safely harness the earth’s energy by sending water deep into the earth where geothermal heat turns it into steam to run generators. A much safer, smarter solution!
Geothermal power plants require no fuel and produce no waste. Nuclear power plants turn nature’s blessing into a potential disaster by disturbing the earth’s fine balance. Mining, concentrating and shipping uranium to population centers just to boil water is an insane approach.
How did we ever get started down this complex and dangerous path? It was an outgrowth of our military-industrial complex. After the war, the first atomic power plants were made by adapting reactors originally designed to produce plutonium for atomic bombs. In the 1950’s this plutonium output was considered a bonus but today, with 22,000 atomic bombs already produced, it has become a nightmare.
The U.S. spent over seventy billion dollars developing nuclear technology and has budgeted another 200 billion for cleaning up the mess it has created. After the Chernobyl disaster, construction of new nuclear plants was wisely stopped. But memories are short, and recently the idea of a “nuclear renaissance” has taken hold. Insurance companies, however, have refused to cover nuclear plants’ huge liabilities so the U.S. government stepped in and volunteered our tax money to cover all damages above ten billion dollars.
In 2006 we missed a golden opportunity to change the course of our energy future and go down the geothermal path. That year MIT released a detailed study on the potential of a new approach to geothermal power generation that could ultimately make it practical throughout the country.
Engineered Geothermal Systems (EGS) are not limited to existing hot water aquifers. They use water as a conveyer belt to carry heat from hot rocks deep underground. Using a closed loop, very little water is consumed. Unfortunately, the Department of Energy, dominated by coal and nuclear interests, ignored the MIT study and in 2007 the geothermal development budget was cut to zero because geothermal was deemed “a mature technology.”
If the DOE had instead channeled some of the billions budgeted for nuclear and “clean coal” to a crash program to develop EGS geothermal, we could be in a much better position today.
The DOE is gradually waking up to this missed opportunity and just last year spent $43 million on geothermal research. Not exactly a Manhattan Project, but a start nonetheless. Geothermal is a serious threat to coal and nuclear interests because it is the only renewable energy source that runs 24/7 and is not dependent on weather or time of day.
Geothermal isn’t new. The world’s first geothermal power plant, in Larderello, Italy, was built in 1911. It is still producing enough electric power for a million homes. In many parts of the world geothermal power is already cheaper than coal or nuclear. The gap is widening daily as coal and nuclear costs skyrocket. 11,000 MW of geothermal capacity is already profitably generating electricity worldwide.
Geothermal produces 26% of the total power in Iceland and the Philippines and 5% in California. About 4,000 MW of new projects are now underway in the U.S in 13 states. Though California generates most of the geothermal power today, projects are now underway in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and West Virginia.
The powerful coal and nuclear interests are putting up a tough fight to defend their interests. Disinformation and fear mongering about earthquake dangers and ground water pollution are used to stop geothermal projects. The fact is that most of the EGS techniques have already been used for decades in the oil industry.
In the gulf states there are already more than 50,000 oil wells in which water is being injected nearby to push out the remaining oil. The hot water that comes out with the oil is a big problem to dispose of now but by using this heat to generate power it can become a source of income. Over time, the geothermal energy produced at these oil wells could exceed the energy that exists in the oil itself.
Thomas R. Blakeslee is president of The Clearlight Foundation. He lives in Westlake Village, CA.
Email
Bookmark
Print
Feed
Share
Sign up for our free e-Newsletters
1 of 25
Business rewards those processes that make the most money all along the process chain. Centralized solar, wind, geothermal, tidal, wave etc. only make money for those who make the original equipment and those selling the power. The fuel is free. Reoccurring incoming is a hallmark for a desirable business model. If you think about it, all the chosen energy forms in heavy capitalized countries are fuel based. Entities make money on the equipment to "mine/drill" the fuel, process the fuel, selling the fuel, and, they have you hooked. If the customer wants the energy they have to buy the fuel which keeps all those money making entities in play. Renewable energies, especially point of use generation installs, are very undesirable from a business perspective because the only ones making the money are the OEM's!!, and there is no reoccurring element!!
As one would expect in a currency based world, we made our choices based on currency, not what was going to be the best for our species.
Allot of the professed statements about the way we have done things, that are excused under the heading of, "we didn't know" is bull _hit. We knew. We just wanted to make the money instead.... and if you doubt this as being a valid statement, look at the world from a 2011 perspective. We know all the consequences and we are still lying and misrepresenting all for profit. Look at the responders on just this site, an RE site. How many consistently use money as the reason to go down a given road, even when the forsaken road is benign compared to the one they promote. For people like this, currency is only overridden when the consequences become personal to them. Tragedy must hit "home". Their home. Their family.
.....Bill