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US to Cut Funds for Geothermal & Hydropower – Renewable Energy Sources

Parkavikumar — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:49:00 +0000

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US to cut funds for two renewable energy sources

From the September 15, 2006 edition – CS Monitor. By Mark Clayton | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Geothermal and hydropower are mature enough for private enterprise to take the lead, the government says.

Excerpts:
1. The US Department of Energy (DOE) is quitting the hydropower and geothermal power research business – if Congress will let it.

2. Declaring them “mature technologies” that need no further funding, the Bush administration in its FY 2007 budget request eliminates hydropower and geothermal research, venerable programs with roots in the energy crises of the 1970s.

3. “Zeroing out” such research could end up being a penny-wise, pound-foolish move, some energy advocates say

4. The idea that geothermal is a mature technology that doesn’t need further research isn’t correct according to many industry professionals. Today more than 60 geothermal plants with the capacity of about three big coal-fired power plants produce less than 1 percent of the nation’s electricity (in the USA)

5. Together, high-tech hydropower and geothermal resources could contribute at least enough power to replace more than 100 medium-size coal-fired power plants with emissions-free electricity – about the number now on the drawing board.

6. Some energy industry experts also feel that research should be done on the next generation of hydropower – ocean, tidal, wave and conduit energy coming on. Power from tidal flows, waves, and irrigation canals are expanding the definition of hydropower – none of which are likely to get DOE research funding…

Personalities mentioned: Craig Stevens, chief spokesman for the DOE; V. John White, executive director of the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies, an environmental group based in Sacramento, Calif.; Karl Gawell, executive director of the Geothermal Energy Association, a Washington trade group.; Linda Church Ciocci, executive director of the National Hydropower Association, a Washington trade group; Robbin Marks, director of the hydropower reform campaign at American Rivers, a Washington environmental group; Jerry Taylor, the Cato Institute’s director of Natural Resource Studies; Trey Taylor, cofounder and president of Verdant Power in Arlington, Va.

Organizations mentioned: Department of Energy, Govt of USA; National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Original news article link here

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Power from Not-so-Hot / Warm Geothermal

Parkavikumar — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:39:00 +0000

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Power from Not-So-Hot Geothermal

This power system could make it feasible to generate cheap electricity from lukewarm geothermal sources.

By Prachi Patel-Predd, Thursday, September 21, 2006 @ Technology Review

Excerpts

1. A large share of the geothermal resources suitable for power generation – with temperatures higher than 300°F – are deep underground, beyond the reach of current technology.
2. Lower-temperature resources, common across the United States, are generally used for heating, but could be a bountiful source of power as well, if researchers were able to find an economical way to convert them into electricity.
3. A company says they have developed a low-cost system that can utilize low-temperature geothermal resources. The technology could be particularly useful in generating electricity from waste hot water generated at oil and gas wells.
4. In this technology, steam or hot water vaporizes a hydrofluorocarbon refrigerant that drives the turbine – the refrigerant has a lower boiling point than water.
5. The UTRC power plant can be thought of as a reverse cooling system.
6. In Texas alone, more than 12 billon barrels of water are produced from wells. Oil companies usually discard the waste water by re-injecting it into the earth.

Companies/organizations mentioned: United Technologies Research Center (UTRC), a unit of United Technologies based in East Hartford, CT, Carrier Corp.,

Personalities mentioned: Bruce Biederman, who leads the project at UTRC

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An Introduction to Geothermal Energy

Parkavikumar — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:17:00 +0000

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An Introduction To Geothermal Energy

By Brian Yanity and Amanda Kolker of Insurgent49

Excerpts:

1. Geothermal (or “Earth heat”) energy is naturally occurring underground heat found in the form of dry hot rocks or hot water.

2. The geothermal energy of the Earth is diffuse and diverse, but also immense by any measure. The estimated amount of total heat flowing from the Earth’s interior is equivalent to 42 terawatts of power, or more than ten times the amount of electric generation capacity existing in the world today.

3. Geothermal energy is exploited commercially around the world, in places such as Iceland, New Zealand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Central America, Russia, France, and Italy.

4. Geothermal energy potential is high in several areas of Alaska, especially on the Alaska Peninsula and along the Aleutians.

5. Geothermal Indirect Use: Electricity Generation

6. Dry steam, Flash steam, Binary cycle

7. In the U.S., geothermal energy produces utility-scale electricity in California, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Hawaii.

8. Overall, geothermal energy provides 5% of California’s electricity, and 10% of the power used in northern half of Nevada.

9. Western North America and Pacific islands such as Hawaii and the Aleutians owe their geothermal resource to the high degree of tectonic activity, and the resulting abundance of mountains, volcanoes, and faults.

10. Closer to Alaska, a single geothermal power plant provides an Anchorage-sized city on Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula with about one-third of its electricity.

11. A prime example of geothermal energy utilization is Iceland, which receives about 15% of it electricity from geothermal. The Philippines generates almost 20% of its power, and New Zealand about 7%, from geothermal.

12. Geothermal energy production is growing rapidly in Latin America and Asia, and East Africa (Kenya).

13. Geothermal Direct Use: Heating and Absorption Refrigeration.

14. Geothermally-heated greenhouses are used to grow a variety of indoor crops in Iceland, including tropical fruit. Such greenhouses also used in Hungary, Italy, Idaho and New Mexico. Other possible uses include warm-water aquaculture and process heating for seafood processing.

15. Challenges and Economics – Many potential geothermal energy sites are located in remote areas, long electric transmission lines would have to be built in order to serve populated areas. Construction of geothermal power plants is capital intensive.

16. Sustainability of Geothermal Energy – Geothermal energy resources (i.e. “geothermal reservoirs”) require three basic components: heat, groundwater, and permeable rocks (which permit deep circulation of groundwater). Geothermal reservoirs are considered renewable; Hence, geothermal reservoirs are sustainable over the long-term.Carefully managed geothermal systems are expected to last centuries.

17. Many of the world’s hot water reservoirs, particularly those of higher temperature and salinity, pose the potential for contamination of nearby soils if the extracted water is not re-injected into the ground. There is also the risk of aquifer disruption when large amounts of water are extracted from the ground. Another risk for geothermal power facilities is the corrosion of metal pipes by the minerals contained geothermal steams and gases.

18. Prospecting for geothermal energy is typically a two-phase process. The first phase involves geologic mapping (to characterize tectonic setting, permeability of reservoir, and surface conditions), geophysical studies such as seismic, gravity, and electro-magnetic surveys (to image the subsurface), geochemical investigations (to characterize the nature of the geothermal fluid), and shallow drilling for thermal gradient information.

19. Compared to the rest of the world’s geothermal resources, Alaska’s geothermal resources are poorly understood.

Geothermal Energy Links:

www.geothermal.org
www.geo-energy.org
geothermal.inel.gov
iga.igg.cnr.it/index.php
egi-geothermal.org
www.unr.edu/geothermal
geoheat.oit.edu
www.nzgeothermal.org.nz
www.smu.edu/geothermal/heatflow/heatflow.htm

Full article can be read here

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The Geothermal Sustainable Energy Goldmine

Parkavikumar — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:15:00 +0000

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Tapping Into The Geothermal Goldmine

Thursday, October 12, 2006
KRISTINE KISKY for The Columbian Advertisement

Excerpts:

1. Skyrocketing prices are driving people to consider energy alternatives. And geothermal could be one of them.

2. The earth absorbs solar energy and it is stored in the soil, below the surface. The energy contained in the land beneath a home or business can be harnessed and used as a constant and renewable source of heating or cooling, using the technology called the geothermal exchange or geoexchange

3. An underground loop system makes it possible to tap into the subterranean energy. When it’s cold outside, liquid in the underground loop absorbs heat as it circulates, and carries it to a geothermal unit, where it is compressed to a higher temperature before the warm air is sent to the indoor heating system. Come summer, the process reverses, pulling heat out of the home and expelling it into the earth.

4. Geothermal systems use a refrigerant to help transfer heat into and out of areas.

5. Geothermal systems operate at much higher year-round efficiencies than a standard heat pump.

6. Systems save homeowners 30 to 70 percent in heating costs, and 20 to 50 percent in cooling costs as compared to conventional climate control systems.

7. Geoexchange systems require little maintenance and add considerably to the value of homes. The polyethylene piping used in the loops is expected to last 50 years or more.

8. Significant federal tax credits are available for people who have a geothermal system installed.

9. There are three primary ways to install the energy-tapping loop system for a geothermal exchange system. (a) horizontal trenches are dug in the ground and hundreds of feet of tubing are laid in them, or (b) vertical holes are drilled in the ground instead of horizontal, or (c) if there is a pond or a lake at or near the home, tubing is submerged in the body of water.

10. Though the concept of a geothermal exchange system is brand new to many, the technology has been around for generations.

11. Geothermal Heat Pump Consortium is a nonprofit organization to promote the use of geoexchange technology. Web site: www.geoexchange.org., Total Energy Concepts, Inc.: www.totalenergyconcepts.net.

Organizations & personalities mentioned: John Lower, Sr., of Total Energy Concepts Inc., Geothermal Heat Pump Consortium (GHPC)

Full article here

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Geothermal Energy – A Hot Renewable Energy Topic

Parkavikumar — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:12:00 +0000

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Geothermal energy conference – sponsored by New York Smart Energy Program

October 12, 2006

Excerpts:
1. More than 400 geothermal experts and industry executives attended the International Ground Source Heat Pump Association’s annual conference in NY.

2. In addition to creating hot water, geothermal heat-pump systems heat buildings in the winter and cool them in the summer using heat-exchange systems placed underground.

3. New York Energy Smart Program is an energy-efficiency initiative of the state Public Service Commission and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).

4. Four professors from Hudson Valley Community College plan to incorporate geothermal training into their heating & air conditioning courses.

5. The geothermal market is relatively small, measuring just 1 percent of the entire heating and air conditioning market in the United States.

6. It can cost between $10,000 and $20,000 to install the geothermal average system, which is a disadvantage.

7. However, this is changing, especially as prices for natural gas and petroleum become more volatile.

Personalities mentioned: Philip Schoen, chief executive of GEO-Enterprises Inc., a geothermal company in Catoosa, Okla., Patricia Acampora, a PSC commissioner, John-David Thulin, president of Scandia Contractors Inc., a geothermal systems company based on Long Island

see here for full report

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