Geothermal Energy

As there is an increasing concern of the earth's well-being, the same can be said about our heavy dependence on fossil fuels. The biggest burners of fossil fuels are the natural gas plants which provide us with heat and electricity with the use of coal. According to Michael D. Lemonick in "Global Warming: Beyond the Tipping Point" scientists believe that coal is "the single biggest fossil-fuel reservoir of carbon [dioxide]". Scientists and experts have come up with several solutions to try and lessen the impact of carbon dioxide, but their main suggestion is to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy. Since there are many different types of renewable energy, it has been a difficult process in selecting the one that is best suited for the earth. While solar and wind energy seem to be the popular choice for renewable energy, environmentalists like Ethan Goffman and Karl Gawell believe that geothermal energy, which uses the heat created by the earth, is the cleanest and most reliable source of energy. It is believed to be the most reliable source because the earth has constantly produced heat for billions of years and they estimate that it will continue to produce for billions of years to come, providing us with an infinite source of heat.

Geothermal energy can be simply defined as "heat from the earth" (Blodgett and Slack), but the process of using this heat to our advantage is a bit more complicated than its definition. The way geothermal produces energy is by using a "natural source of steam and hot water" (Blodgett and Slack) which can be accessed by drilling into the earth's surface. However, there is a limit to how deep we can drill since the temperature at "the Earth's core, can reach [up to] 5,000oC"(Blodgett and Slack), making it next to impossible for human contact, which regulates us to drill down to the point where we are "using heat up to 350oC"(Goffman). These extreme temperatures have led some to believe that the steam emitted from drilling can be dangerous to our health, but this is a common myth and while the steam "[may] appear hazardous; it is almost entirely harmless" (Goffman). A way of extracting heat from the earth without drilling is by using Geothermal Heat Pumps (GHPs), which are used to absorb the heat from "10 feet below the [earth's]" (Goffman) surface. Since GHPs have a steady temperature to constantly draw from, it "requires far less energy" (Goffman) consumption than conventional systems because conventional systems use electricity "to collect, concentrate, and deliver heat" (Blodgett and Slack) while GHPs produce their own source of heat. According to Blodgett and Slack, the Environmental Protection Agency considers GHPs to be the most efficient heating and cooling systems currently available.

As the GHP system is becoming increasingly popular it is not sufficient enough to produce enough "electricity for consumption on a vast scale" (Goffman). To produce enough electricity for a larger scale, geothermal power plants would need to be built. The way a geothermal plant develops electricity from steam is by producing wells, which "are drilled into a geothermal reservoir: a reservoir under the surface that produces heat and steam from rain and snow" (Blodgett and Slack). These wells then take the water and transfer them to the plant, which then converts the water into electricity. Although, installation of a geothermal plant can initially be costly, the long-term benefits heavily outweigh the costs because once the plant is fully running it provides "virtually free energy" (Goffman) for an indefinite time period. Some may argue that due to the high start up costs of geothermal plants more time and effort should be spent on solar and wind energy research. However, the advantage that geothermal has in comparison to other renewable energy is its availability. Geothermal energy is "available at every time of day" (Goffman) and through the most gruelling weather conditions. Since Lemonick and Goffman both agree that coal plants are the biggest contributors to carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, replacing them with geothermal plants will greatly reduce fossil fuel emissions because there is "no burning [that] takes place; only steam is emitted from geothermal facilities" (Blodgett and Slack).

Since geothermal plants can be used as a viable substitute for fossil fuel plants, it can also reduce the health risks and costs that come with carbon burning created by coal plants. According to Blodgett and Slack, if carbon emissions were reduced due to increasing use of geothermal plants there would be a significant decline in the number of deaths, chronic bronchitis, and heart attacks related to poor air quality. The health costs would also decline because there would be less need for hospital beds and resources that would have