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Geothermal energy is heat from the Earth's interior. The most useful geothermal resources are hot water and steam trapped in underground reservoirs between 176-662°F. In geothermal power plants, hot water or steam is used to drive turbines to generate electricity. Geothermal energy has advantages of being non-polluting, inexhaustible, and globally sustainable. However, suitable locations are required with hot underground rocks that can be accessed through drilling.

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Adam Carnell
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31 views

Bert

Geothermal energy is heat from the Earth's interior. The most useful geothermal resources are hot water and steam trapped in underground reservoirs between 176-662°F. In geothermal power plants, hot water or steam is used to drive turbines to generate electricity. Geothermal energy has advantages of being non-polluting, inexhaustible, and globally sustainable. However, suitable locations are required with hot underground rocks that can be accessed through drilling.

Uploaded by

Adam Carnell
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Geothermal Energy

A Geothermal Power Station


• http://www1.eere.energy.gov/geothermal/gp
p_animation.html
Geothermal energy
• Is the power obtained by using heat from the
Earth’s interior. Most geothermal resources
are in regions of active volcanism. Hot springs,
geysers, pools of boiling mud, and fumaroles
(vents ofvolcanic gases and heated
groundwater) are the most easily exploited
sources of such energy.
Working
• The most useful geothermal resources are hot water and steam trapped
in subsurface formations or reservoirs and having temperatures ranging
from 176° to 662° F (80° to 350° C). Water and steam hotter than 356° F
(180° C) are the most easily exploited for electric-power generation and
are utilized by most existing geothermal power plants. In these plants
the hot water is flashed to steam, which is then used to drive a turbine
whose mechanical energy is then converted to electricity by a generator.
Hot, dry subsurface rocks may also become more widely used as a
source of geothermal energy once the technical problems of circulating
water through them for heating and conversion to steam are completely
resolved. The development of geothermal resources has become
increasingly attractive owing to the rising cost of petroleum and the
nonpolluting character of geothermal energy production.
Advantages
-Non polluting
-Theoretically inexhaustible energy source
- Water can be reused as it is not contaminated.
-Effluents and wastes are not produced
-Consolidated geothermal power stations have
low maintenance costs and are commercially
viable in MEDCs.
-It is globally sustainable.
Disadvantages
• Suitable location required, there are not many
places where you can build a geothermal power
station. You need hot rocks of a suitable type, at
a depth where we can drill down to them. The
type of rock above is also important, it must be
of a type that we can easily drill through.
• Hazardous gases and minerals may come up
from underground, and can be difficult to safely
dispose of.

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