Geothermal energy may help soon....

Today's post: Wednesday, 1-20-2010

We need an 80% reduction in fossil fuel use by 2050 to avoid the worst global warming effects. And, practically speaking, we need to also double our electricity generation and double the useful work done per unit of electricity & other energy sources as well during that same time to have a decent economy.

At some point, the oil that we’ve been using to power much of our economy will begin to run low enough that our world economy will shrink due to lack of supply or excessive costs or both.

And, once the demand for oil picks up again with the apparent economic recovery or supply begins to plateau or drop, the prices will again go back up. That will cause more hard times economically unless we have enough alternative sources of energy to turn to.

Further, it’s extremely clear that the most supported and economically beneficial solution to add energy that does not use oil nor burn fossil fuels to release more CO2 into air that already has too much is to build massive amounts of new renewable energy production, particularly those that generate electricity & to dramatically increase energy efficiency and reduce the amount of energy that is now wasted.

And, of those the more important long range solution is to build massive amounts of new renewable energy generation.

Today’s post:

Using solar thermal that can save solar energy efficiently for hours after it arrives & wind from locations where it blows more reliably and tying them all together with good transmission lines and a smart grid to do its best to distribute them well and continued advances in energy efficiency – all of which we need & are beginning to happen -- is not enough for a reliable supply of electricity for our homes and businesses. We also need sources that can deliver power on cold winter nights that have little wind blowing to pair with that.

Burning coal in a way that releases less net CO2 & far less of the pollution that is involved now in its exhaust and mining methods will work. To protect jobs in the areas that now mine coal or depend on coal fired plants it likely will be used or at least tried.

More use of natural gas, despite it adding to CO2 releases will work. And, it does release less CO2 than coal & is cheaper to transport. In the short run some increased use is likely. T. Boone Pickens and Exxon are likely right about that. And, by feeding the CO2 produced to algae to make biofuels, we can net out some help for total CO2 levels as will likely be done with coal also.

But what we badly need ASAP are less polluting, cleaner sources of energy that do NOT release CO2 but which also provide electricity or heat on cold winter nights that have little wind blowing.

Breeder reactors that recycle the uranium so that far less is used up per unit of electric power and where no radioactive waste must be transported -- as has been used in Europe for some time -- will do the job. And, over time, more will likely be built in the United States. However, the costs of truly adequate security and totally reliable extremely long term management and maintenance will make this development slow – as I think they should.

So, we have two sources that can be upgraded and will be used despite problems with their CO2 release. And, we have a CO2 release free source that will develop only slowly and has other dangers.

So what we badly need ASAP are less polluting, cleaner sources of energy that do NOT release CO2 but which also provide electricity or heat on cold winter nights that have little wind blowing other than relying on nuclear power alone.

It seems we have one – or we very well might.

Last week, on Thurs, 1-14-2010 the Wall Street Journal had a story with this title:

“Boiling Point: High Hopes for Geothermal Energy” by Paul Glader

It seems that 144 new geothermal power plants in being built in 14 states, says Karl Gawell, executive director of the Geothermal Energy Association. That’s more than were being built as recently two years ago.
The industry is still small -- producing only about 3,000 megawatts now.

But the news is that new technology is now multiplying the amount of geothermal power that can be tapped. These include new technologies that allow lower-temperature water to be turned into geothermal energy and used to make electricity. This will make much more geothermal production possible in Texas, Mississippi, & Louisiana –in addition to in traditional geothermal states such as California.

The new geothermal technologies may do much more. The U.S. Geological Survey says we have 6,000 megawatts of already known geothermal potential using current technology with another, 8,000 to 73,000 megawatts estimated to still exist but not yet found. But new technology may make as much as 800,000 megawatts or 800 gigawatts of power available according to this article. THAT much electricity added to huge amounts of new electricity from wind, solar thermal, solar photovoltaic installations plus more transmission interconnections and smart controls and energy efficiency advances could indeed make fossil fuels unnecessary within 30 or 40 years and nuclear far less needed.

Geothermal is a renewable energy that WILL work to provide continuous, power to pair with wind & solar power that is not quite continuous enough to do the job alone.

The U.S. is currently the world leader. But the geothermal industry now is where the wind-power industry was 30 years ago it seems.

However, GE, despite its recent setbacks in its financial divisions, has been taking an interest in geothermal lately; & GE Energy Financial Services finances has already made some geothermal investments.

So, not only is it possible that geothermal power may be able to make a prosperous economy based on an all- renewable or 95 % renewable energy supply happen, it may already be on its way to happening.