Geothermal Energy Creates Hope for Global Energy Solution

Sentido.tv :: Steam-driven process using deep underground vents to super-heat water could be 'nearly inexhaustible' resource...

The race to tap large quantities of underground, geothermal energy is heating up. In a recent bid to solve their country's demand for clean energy, the Swiss are digging deep, and the Earth is responding. A scientist at MIT, in the US, says 40% of US geothermal sources could power the entire country's energy needs in excess of 56,000 times.

At a cost of $51 million so far, the Swiss experiment in delving under the earth's crust has proven successful. The plan is to circulate water deep into the ground using shafts a bit larger than those used in drilling for oil, except pumping water and gaining access to high levels of heat, enough to harness the capacity to run a steam turbine and power an estimated 10,000 homes and offices.

The type of geothermal hot rock technology is called 'enhanced geothermal systems,' and drills into very hot granite at 400 degrees F. Even though the holes dug for these systems are deep, it only scratches the earth's surface and remains well away from the inner regions. 99% of the earth's interior is even hotter, at about 1000 degrees, where the technology is not designed to go, and where human science cannot yet reach without justfiable concerns about undesirable magma or gas leaks.

The science seems straighforward enough, but there may be a catch. In early December, the country registered a magnitude 3.4 tremor in response to Geothermal Basel's project to gain access to this untapped energy source. Coursing water through bored holes in the earth several miles deep has destabilized subsurface layers of crust causing shifts. The resulting tremors throughout the Basel region alarmed authorities enough to temporarily halt activity.

Clean and in ample supply, geothermal energy has the potential to power the current global population and much more without degrading the environment. The drawbacks include cost of drilling and stiff price competition from current fossil fuel extraction. Scientists say that certain hot rock source supplies, that cost about $7 to $8 million to drill, provide energy for only a limited amount of time, requiring a new source to be found after maybe just a decade. [Complete Text]