Geothermal Energy

I Gusti Agung Aditya Surya Wibawa

Diponegoro University, Indonesia
adit.ftg2011@gmail.com

Geothermal energy is our name for energy harnessed from the natural heat
dissipating from the Earth. As far as newer, alternative energy sources go it is the most
reliable. When someone is criticizing alternative energy for being intermittent theyll
often go right after wind and solar because, as we all know, the wind isnt always
blowing and the sun isnt always shining. These are real issues with those methods of
energy generation, albeit rather small ones. Geothermal energy doesnt have this problem
because its almost always the same temperature underground.
So what do we actually use this heat for? Its constantly flowing out from the
core to the surface of the planet. We have to make use of it somewhere, right? Of course
we do! There are two different things we use it for. The first is the one we all think of,
that we use it for space heating and cooling. This is a pretty big deal once you consider
that space heating/cooling is where a little over half of our total energy consumption ends
up. Think about that! Over half of all the energy we get from every source we know of
goes towards keeping your house heated and cooled. Given how much energy we use in a
year the amount that goes towards keeping the thermostat where we like it is
astronomical! This is why geothermal energy is such a great way to decrease our
dependence on fossil fuels. Its reliable and constant so we dont have to worry about it
shutting down. Imagine if every house had been equipped for geothermal heating when it
was built. If that even helped with half of the energy we use for changing the thermostat
then thats already one quarter of all the energy were currently using being generated
from one source! Thats a huge amount of energy and a huge amount of CO2 that wed be
keeping out of the atmosphere (U.S. Department of Energy).
The second way we harness this energy from the Earth is through geothermal
plants. In certain hot spots around the globe we can drill a hole and pump water
through pipes to turn it to steam. From there its a simple enough process to turn a turbine
and generate electricity. So not only can this energy heat our houses but also generate
electricity for all of the extra things. Some countries generate massive amounts of
electricity from geothermal plants. For example, Iceland, El Salvador, and the Philippines

all generate over 25% of their electricity simply from areas that are warm when you drill
down a few miles. Again, thats a lot of electricity! The plants emit less than one eighth
the CO2 that a coal plant generating the same amount of electricity would emit. Theres
just very little that can be said that is anti-geothermal energy (Energy- Consumer's-Edge).
Lets talk actual numbers now. In fact, lets check the data we have on just the
United States. The installed capacity of geothermal electricity in America is a little over
3,000 MW. Thats about enough for 3,000,000 people. Compared to the size of our
population that isnt a whole lot of electricity. But lets look at what it saves us. That
much electricity is equivalent to around 90 million barrels of oil. One gallon of gas
equates to 19.64 pounds of CO2, so 90 million barrels is equal to keeping over 37 million
tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere. That doesnt include the geothermal energy that heats
and cools homes (Geothermal Energy Association).
I see huge potential with geothermal energy. I understand that we cannot have a
geothermal plant generate electricity anywhere near here but no matter where we are we
can at least use the Earth to assist in heating and cooling. As for the geothermal plants,
they dont use any extra materials after theyre built and their only input cost is the
energy required to pump the water into and out of the Earth. Theyre completely reliable,
they wont break down, they require no additional materials to run once theyre built, and
theyre nonpolluting. The simple systems used for heating and cooling are similarly
stable and nonpolluting. We should definitely put more effort into harnessing this energy
source that seems to be hiding right under our noses.