THERMAL ENERGY

GENERATION FROM
GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
BY:
Canete, Juanito
Estana, Jules Ian
Lituanas, Leonil
Macasarte, Phillip Guiller
GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
• Producing energy from the internal heat of the Earth.
• The internal energy of the Earth is generated from radioactive
decay of minerals and continual heat loss from the Earth’s
original formation.
• Most geothermal reservoirs
are deep underground with no
visible clues showing above
ground.

• The most common method

that scientists use to find
geothermal reservoirs is
drilling a deep well and testing
the temperature deep
underground approximately 3
to 10 km.
AREAS W/ HIGH GEOTHERMAL
POTENTIAL

RING OF FIRE
Different Geothermal Energy Sources
• Hot Water Reservoirs: As the name implies these are
reservoirs of hot underground water. There is a large amount of
them in the US, but they are more suited for space heating than
for electricity production.
• NaturalStem Reservoirs: In this case a hole dug into the
ground can cause steam to come to the surface. This type of
resource is rare in the US.
• Geo Pressurized Reservoirs: In this type of reserve, brine
completely saturated with natural gas in stored under pressure
from the weight of overlying rock. This type of resource can be
used for both heat and for natural gas.
• Normal Geothermal Gradient: At any place on the planet, there is
a normal temperature gradient of +300C per km dug into the earth.
Therefore, if one digs 20,000 feet the temperature will be about
1900C above the surface temperature. This difference will be
enough to produce electricity. However, no useful and economical
technology has been developed to extracted this large source of
energy.
• Hot Dry Rock: This type of condition exists in 5% of the US. It is
similar to Normal Geothermal Gradient, but the gradient is 400C/km
dug underground.
• Molten Magma: No technology exists to tap into the heat reserves
stored in magma. The best sources for this in the US are in Alaska
and Hawaii.
GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
GENERATION
Direct Uses
• Heating homes
• Hot springs
• Greenhouse heating
• Agriculture

- Crop drying
- Milk pasteurization
Heating homes
-Open dublett system - horizontal ground loops -vertical U-tube loop
(most common)
Hot springs
 Greenhouse heating

• 1926: a deep geothermal well was used to heat greenhouses.

Agriculture
• Drying
agricultural
products
GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
GENERATION
Indirect uses
• Flashed steam plant
• Dry steam plant
• Binary power plant
 Flashed steam plant
• Hotwater at high pressure
when released from deep
reservoir forms high
pressure steam (flashed
steam).
• Thissteam drives
turbines.
• Thisis most common type
of plant operating today.
 Dry steam plant
• Usually
geysers are the main
source of dry steam.
• Reservoirs which produce steam
with small quantity of water use
this type of plant.
• A rockcatcher is used to protect
turbine from rocks coming along
with steam.
 Binary power plant
• Transfers
the heat from
geothermal hot water to another
liquid.
• The heat causes the second liquid
to turn to steam which is used to
drive a generator turbine.
Geothermal’s Positive Attributes
/Advantages
• Useful minerals can be extracted from underground water.
• Cheap maintenance and operation cost.
• Very reliable
• Flash and dry Steam Power Plants have lesser carbon
footprint.
• Binary and Hot Dry Rock plants have no gaseous emission
at all.
• Geothermal plants do not require a lot of land.
Geothermal’s Positive Attributes
/Advantages
• Electricity generated by geothermal plants saves 83.3 million
barrels of fuel each year from being burned world wide.
• Direct use of geothermal energy prevents 103.6 million barrels
of fuel each year from being burned world wide.
• Very high efficiency/high net yield
• Renewable and sustainable
• Can help decrease dependence of foreign oil
• No transportation involved
Geothermal’s Harmful Effects
/Disadvantages
• Brinecan salinate soil if the water is not injected back into
the reserve after the heat is extracted.
• Extracting
large amounts of water can cause land
subsidence, and this can lead to an increase in seismic
activity.
• Initial costs can be high.
• Harmful gases can escape from deep within the earth
Geothermal’s Harmful Effects
/Disadvantages
• There is the fear of noise pollution during the drilling of
wells.
• Can only be used in certain geologically active areas
• Water contains minerals that can be corrosive and difficult
to dispose of safely
• Harmful gases can escape from deep within the earth
• Piping system requires large areas of land
Sources:
• Adapted from the National Energy Education Development Project, Intermediate
Energy Infobook, 2006.
• Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Annual 2006, November 2007.
• Energy Information Administration, State Electricity Profiles 2006, November 2007.
• Energy Information Administration, Emissions of Greenhouse Gases, November 2007.
Office of Geothermal
• Technologies, U.S. Department of Energy, "Geothermal Heat Pumps Make Sense for
Homeowners," DOE/GO- 10098-651, April 1999.