Geothermal Energy

MNGN 498/MNGN598
January 12, 2009

Meeting Date & Time: MWF; 9:00-9:50; Berthoud Hall 206

Difference between MNGN498 and MNGN598

Two exams and One project

Field Trip to Mt. Princeton (?)

Three guest lectures in topics of your interest

Canadian Geothermal Energy Association
http://www.cangea.ca/

http://cangeatv.blip.tv/#1159566

Geothermal = heat (thermal) from the earth (geo)

What is Geothermal Energy?

Geothermal energy draws sustainable power from the natural

heat of the earth. It is the thermal energy contained in the rock
and fluid (that fills the fractures and pores within the rock) in the
earth’s crust. It is believed that the ultimate source of geothermal
energy is radioactive decay occurring deep within the earth. The
presence of volcanoes, hot springs, and other thermal
phenomena are surface evidence of our planet’s heat resource.
Geothermal Education Office
GEO is one of the most useful websites.

http://geothermal.marin.org/
Heat flows outward from Earth's interior. The crust insulates us
from Earth's interior heat. The mantle is semi-molten, the outer
core is liquid and the inner core is solid.
The deeper you go, the hotter it gets (in Fahrenheit and
miles).
Earth's crust is broken into huge plates that move apart or
push together at about the rate our fingernails grow.
Convection of semi-molten rock in the upper mantle
helps drive plate tectonics.
New crust forms along mid-ocean spreading centers and
continental rift zones. When plates meet, one can slide
beneath another. Plumes of magma rise from the edges
of sinking plates.
When hot water and steam reach the surface, they can
form fumaroles, hot springs, mud pots and other
interesting phenomena.
When the rising hot water and steam is trapped in
permeable and porous rocks under a layer of
impermeable rock, it can form a geothermal reservoir.
A geothermal reservoir is a powerful source of energy!
Many areas have accessible geothermal resources,
especially countries along the circum-Pacific "Ring of
Fire," spreading centers, continental rift zones and other
hot spots.
These and other methods are used.
Exploration commonly begins with analysis of satellite
images and aerial photographs.
Volcanoes are obvious indications of underground heat,
this volcano, Mt. Mayon in the Albay province of the
Philippines erupted in 1999.
Geologists explore volcanic regions to find the most
likely areas for further study, like this steaming hillside in
El Hoyo, Nicaragua.
Geologic maps like this one are created, showing rock
type and ages in different colors.
Data from electrical, magnetic, chemical and seismic
surveys is gathered in the field.
The data obtained in the field are displayed in various
ways and analyzed.
First, a small- diameter "temperature gradient hole" is
drilled (some only 200' deep, some over 4000 feet deep)
with a truck-mounted rig to determine the temperatures
and underground rock types.
Workers on a temperature gradient hole drilling project.
Either rock fragments or long cores of rock are brought
up from deep down the hole and temperatures are
measured at depth.
Geologists examine the cored rock (shown here marked
with depth markers).
Temperature results like this would definitely encourage
the drilling of a larger, deeper well to try to find a
hydrothermal reservoir.
Production-sized wells require large drill rigs like these
and can cost a couple of million dollars or more to drill.
Geothermal wells can be drilled over two miles deep.
On these large rigs, drilling continues 24 hours per day.
If a reservoir is discovered, characteristics of the well and
the reservoir are tested by flowing the well.
Natural steam from the production wells power the
turbine generator. The steam is condensed by
evaporation in the cooling tower and pumped down an
injection well to sustain production.
Like all steam turbine generators, the force of steam is
used to spin the turbine blades which spin the generator,
producing electricity. But with geothermal energy, no
fuels are burned.
Turbine blades inside a geothermal turbine generator.
Turbine generator outdoors at an Imperial Valley
geothermal power plant in California.
Those white plumes you see at geothermal power plants
are steam (water vapor). Geothermal plants do not burn
fuel or produce smoke.
Geothermal power plants are clean and are operating
successfully in sensitive environments.
These geothermal plants are operating successfully in a
Philippine cornfield, at Mammoth Lakes, Calif., in the
Mojave Desert of California, and in a tropical forest, at
Mt. Apo, Philippines.
 Geothermal Energy
MNGN 498/MNGN598
January 12, 2009

Meeting Date & Time: MWF; 9:00-9:50; Berthoud Hall 206

Difference between MNGN498 and MNGN598

Two exams and One project

Field Trip to Mt. Princeton (?)

Three guest lectures in topics of your interest

There are different kinds of geothermal reservoirs and
different kinds of power plants.
In dry steam power plants, the steam (and no water) shoots
up the wells and is passed through a rock catcher (not
shown) and then directly into the turbine. Dry steam fields
are rare.
Prince Piero Ginori Conti invented the first geothermal
power plant in 1904, at the Larderello dry steam field in
Italy.
The first modern geothermal power plants were also built
in Lardello, Italy. They were destroyed in World War II and
rebuilt. Today after 90 years, the Lardello field is still
producing.
The first geothermal power plants in the U.S. were built in
1962 at The Geysers dry steam field, in northern
California. It is still the largest producing geothermal field
in the world.
20 plants are still operating at The Geysers. Wastewater
from nearby cities is injected into the field, providing
environmentally safe disposal and increased steam to
power plants.
Flash steam power plants use hot water reservoirs. In
flash plants, as hot water is released from the pressure of
the deep reservoir in a flash tank, some if it flashes to
steam.
Flash technology was invented in New Zealand. Flash
steam plants are the most common, since most reservoirs
are hot water reservoirs. This flash steam plant is in East
Mesa, California.
This flash plant is in Japan. In flash plants, both the
unused geothermal water and condensed steam are
injected back into the periphery of the reservoir to
sustain the life of the reservoir.
This plant operates in the middle of crops in the Imperial
Valley, California. High mineral contents of some
southern California geothermal reservoirs provide salable
byproducts like silica and zinc.
This flash plant is in Dixie Valley, Nevada. Nevada is rich
in geothermal resources, with more hot springs for its size
than any other state.
In a binary cycle power plant (binary means two), the
heat from geothermal water is used to vaporize a
"working fluid" in separate adjacent pipes. The vapor,
like steam, powers the turbine generator.
Binary technology allows the use of lower temperature
reservoirs, thus increasing the number of reservoirs that
can be used. This binary plant is at Soda Lake, Nevada.
This power plant provides about 25% of the electricity
used on the Big Island of Hawaii. It is a hybrid binary and
flash plant.
This small binary power plant is in Fang, Thailand.
Geothermal power has many local and global benefits.
The fastest growth in US geothermal capacity was from
1980 to 1990, following enactment of federal laws that
compelled utilities to purchase electricity from
independent power producers.
People who live in these areas are receiving electricity
from geothermal power plants.
Geothermal power could serve 100% of the electrical
needs of 39 countries (over 620,000,000 people) in Africa,
Central/ South America and the Pacific. See:
www.geotherm.org/PotentialReport.htm
Producing electricity is a relatively new use of
geothermal energy. People have used Earth's natural hot
water directly since the dawn of humankind.
Use of hot springs by Maoris of New Zealand for cooking
and other purposes extends into modern times.
Modern day Beppu Japan uses geothermal water and
heat in buildings and factories and has 4,000 hot springs
and bathing facilities that attract 12 million tourists a
year.
Since Roman times, we have piped the hot water into
pools to better control the temperature. These are photos
of outdoor and indoor pool and spa bathing in Japan,
the US, and Europe.
In several western US states, many long greenhouses are
built and heated with geothermal water. This one is in
New Mexico.
Peppers, tomatoes, and flowers are commonly grown in
geothermally heated greenhouses.
Geothermal water is also used to speed the growth of
fish. These are growing in a geothermally heated
hatchery at Mammoth Lakes, California.
These alligators are grown in geothermally heated water
in Idaho.
Geothermal water is also used for industrial uses, like
drying lumber or food products. This plant in Brady,
Nevada, provides dried onions to Burger King.
Pipes of geothermal water can be installed under
sidewalks and roads to keep them from icing over in
winter, like this sidewalk in Klamath Falls, Oregon.
In some places, geothermal water is piped from wells to
heat single homes or whole residential or commercial
districts. This truck-mounted drill rig is drilling a well for
use in Klamath Falls, Oregon.
Hot water from one or more geothermal wells is piped
through a heat exchanger plant to heat city water in
separate pipes. Hot city water is piped to heat
exchangers in buildings to warm the air.
The geothermal water never mixes with the city water.
Once its heat is transferred to the city water, the
geothermal water is injected back into the reservoir to
be reheated and recycled.
This is a "plate type" heat exchanger which passes hot
geothermal water past many layers of metal plates,
transferring the heat to other water passing through the
other side of each plate.
These pumps are used to pump the heated water to
buildings in a district heating system, after it has passed
through the heat exchanger.
This photo of Reykjavik, Iceland, was taken in 1932, when
buildings were all heated by burning of (imported) fossil
fuels.
Today, about 95% of the buildings in Reykjavik are
heated with geothermal water. Reykjavik is now one of
the cleanest cities in the world.
The first geothermal district heating system in the US was
built in Boise, Idaho. Today, Boise's capital and city
buildings are heated with a geothermal district heating
system.
The areas in orange and red are where with today's
technology, we can find and use geothermal reservoirs.
Geothermal heat pumps can be used almost
everywhere in the world, without a geothermal reservoir.
The insulating properties of the earth, just below our feet,
can keep us warm or cool.
Different styles of pipes are installed beside a building. A
liquid is piped through the pipes to pick up the heat
FROM the ground or (in the summer) to bring heat from
the building TO the ground.
In a poll, over 95% of people who had installed a
geothermal heat pump said they would recommend it
and would do it again.
The entire U.S. (and most other areas of the world) are
suitable for geothermal heat pumps. In the U.S.,
geothermal reservoirs occur primarily in western states.