NewNergy

NewNergy discusses the latest inventions, innovations and breakthroughs in the energy & environmental sciences.

Alaskan Entrepreneur Touts Geothermal Energy Invention

An Alaskan entrepreneur Bernie Karl has pioneered modern technology to tap into one of Earth's oldest energy resources: hot water.

His energy-generating machine lies on a flatbed truck and can be hooked up to oil and gas wells or other heat-emitting sources to generate electricity.Karl adds a branch connection to an oil or gas pipeline, and the process begins when he "hot taps" into waste water coming through the pipes. The hot water enters the tubes of an evaporator encased in a common refrigerant found in many air conditioning systems. As the hot water passes through the evaporator, it begins to boil the refrigerant in the casing surrounding the tubes. The heat given off by the boiling refrigerant then causes an attached turbine to spin, which jump-starts a generator, producing electrical power.Next, cooling water enters from another source, recondensing the vapor refrigerant into a liquid.A pump pushes the liquid refrigerant back to the evaporator, so the cycle can start again. The difference in temperatures drives the entire "binary system." This setup works exactly the opposite of a refrigerator.

His portable geothermal generator units cost from $350,000 to $375,000, each with the potential to generate enough power for 250 average American homes per year.

see more

Labels: , ,

Nanomaterials to Boost the Efficiency of Geothermal Energy Production

New nanomaterials could provide the boost in efficiency needed to make heat beneath the earth's surface a practical source to generate nearly pollution-free electricity if research at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory proves out.Peter McGrail, a fellow at the Richland lab, thinks the nanomaterials may help make geothermal a more practical resource by allowing efficient energy production at lower temperatures.

In conventional geothermal use for power production, hot rock beneath the earth's surface needs to heat water driven into it to 300 degrees Fahrenheit, or more typically hotter, to make electricity production efficient. That hot rock might be found 5,000 feet beneath the ground's surface in a few places, but typically it's much, much deeper.

Heat from the ground is typically extracted by forcing water into the ground and then pumping it up after it's flowed through rock and picked up heat. It then goes through a heat exchanger to heat liquid to produce vapor to drive a turbine. If it's water that's being used as a liquid, it has to be 212 degrees at sea level to produce steam.The traditional geothermal energy production methods are inherently inefficient in the way they remove the heat.

The nanomaterials called "metal organic heat carriers"with particles one-thousandth the width of a human hair can hold onto gas molecules at a much higher temperature, preventing the fluid from flashing to gas in the heat exchanger until it gets to a higher temperature and pressure. If successful, enhanced geothermal systems like this could become an important energy source.

see more

Labels: , , ,

Geothermal heat of ‘hot rocks’ could power America’s future

Could hot rocks miles below the earth’s surface be the “killer app” of the energy industry? Google thinks so. It’s investing more than $10 million to develop new technology that would make this subterranean resource a widespread, economically viable competitor to fossil fuels.

Geothermal heat could meet 10 percent of America’s energy needs by mid-century, according to the US Department of Energy. What’s more, it would not generate the climate-warming carbon emissions associated with fossil fuels. Once tapped, a geothermal system would stay online for centuries. Unlike wind and solar, it would be a “base load” energy source, available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.With enough investment, geothermal power could satisfy 10 percent of the US energy diet, energy experts say.

Labels:

Method to Identify New Sources of Geothermal Energy Discovered

The field of geothermal energy is hotting up, to use a pun! And it is interesting to know that there could be new sources of geothermal energy.

Currently, most developed geothermal energy comes from regions of volcanic activity, such as The Geysers in Northern California. A team of geochemists have come up with a tool that can point to geothermal energy clusters that are far removed from the volcanic regions. This could mean that the world could derive far more energy from the geothermal source that it is doing currently.

In a survey of the northern Basin and Range province of the western United States, geochemists Mack Kennedy of the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Matthijs van Soest of Arizona State University have discovered a new tool for identifying potential geothermal energy resources. The potential resources identified arise not from volcanism but from the flow of surface fluids through deep fractures that penetrate the earth's lower crust, in regions far from current or recent volcanic activity.

Kennedy and van Soest made their discovery by comparing the ratios of helium isotopes in samples. Helium-three is made only in stars, and Earth's mantle retains a high proportion of primordial helium-three left over from the formation of the solar system. Earth's crust, on the other hand, is rich in radioactive elements that decay by emitting alpha particles, which are helium-four nuclei. Thus a high ratio of helium-three to helium-four in a fluid sample indicates that much of the fluid came from the mantle.

High helium ratios are common in active volcanic regions. But when Kennedy and van Soest found high ratios in places far from volcanism, they knew that mantle fluids must be penetrating the ductile boundary by other means.

Accessible geothermal energy in the United States, excluding Alaska and Hawaii, has been estimated at 9 x 1016 (90 quadrillion) kilowatt-hours, 3,000 times more than the country's total annual energy consumption! Determining helium ratios from surface measurements is a practical way to locate some of the most promising new resources. The tool developed by the geochemists could help figure out other areas in the United States that could be sources of geothermal energy. Depending on future successes with their tool, this could turn out to be a very important finding indeed.

Source: Physorg

Labels:

Google's Next Investment is in...Geothermal Energy

Trust Google to spring really cool surprises (make that warm surprises in this case).

According to reports, Google is in discussions with Israeli geothermal company Ormat Technologies, a relationship that could lead to an investment. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted an interview this past weekend with Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who praised Ormat and the other Israeli companies working in alternative energy. Google co-founder Larry Page also visited an Ormat geothermal plant in Nevada, the newspaper reported.

Google's philanthropic arm, Google.org, has pledged to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in clean-energy companies.

Via: CNET

Labels:

Benefits of geothermal power eyed in Japan

Benefits of geothermal power eyed in Japan

Shigeyuki Koide / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Writer

Geothermal energy, which is generated from the Earth's internal heat, is again attracting attention in Japan and elsewhere. An advisory panel to the economy, trade and industry minister in Japan that has been studying energy resources last month compiled a report calling for an expansion in the use of geothermal power.

Following a number of oil shocks, geothermal power generation rapidly grew in importance in Japan. By the mid-1990s, facilities capable of generating up to 530,000 kilowatts in geothermal power were built at 18 locations, mainly in the Kyushu and Tohoku regions. But as circumstances changed, such as a fall in crude oil prices, the focus on geothermal power decreased...

Read the full article from here @ Daily Yomiuri Online

Labels:

Geothermal power is hot stuff

Geothermal power is hot stuff

Submitted by Jorge Sosa on March 16, 2007

George and Donna Pavelek love their renewable energy.

Since 2003, the couple have used a geothermal system to heat and cool their home. “I’m not into all this global warming (stuff) or anything,” Donna said. “It just made sense. We’re not radical by any means, just practical.”

Donna said four or five years ago, the cost-versus-payback equation on wind energy didn’t make sense for them. However, they expect their geothermal heating and cooling system to pay for itself in the next two or three years.

Read the full news report from here @ Hutchinson Leader

Labels:

Improving Geothermal Plants - Promoting Geothermal Energy

Improving Geothermal Plants - Promoting Geothermal Energy

17 Mar 2007

In the debate over alternative energy resources, geothermal technology has received scant media attention. Advocates call it one of the cleanest, sustainable energy resources available. However, steep construction, equipment and drilling costs have prevented more widespread development of geothermal technology. An Ohio University hydrothermal systems expert Dina Lopez is working to change that.

The Pacific "Ring of Fire" provides some of the hottest spots on the planet for geothermal power. Because of this, Central America is a prime building area for geothermal power plants and draws researchers such as Lopez.

Read the full report here @ Tech News

Labels:

Making geothermal energy cheaper

Making geothermal energy cheaper

22 March 2007

The US Geothermal Resources Council has awarded the ‘best paper award’ to a study by associate professor Dina Lopez from the Ohio University. She studied silica scaling which tends to clog up geothermal plants.

Lopez hopes the study will help guide efforts to control silica scaling, which may help reducing the maintaining costs of geothermal plants.

Read the full report from here @ Green Prices

Labels: , ,

Geothermal Energy Data, Stats

Geothermal Energy Data, Stats

Geothermal power generation capacity worldwide rose from 7,972.7 MW in 2000 to 8,933 MW in 2005, with 8,035 MW running. This is about 0.2% of the total world installed power generating capacity.

Labels: ,

Geothermal Idea Stalls at Ground Level

Geothermal idea stalls at ground level

By Kay Lazar, Globe Staff | March 1, 2007

Alberta Bennett's determination to blaze a pollution-free path has become an odyssey of Homer-like proportions.

Just as Alberta Bennett is poised to have a geothermal system installed, a new hurdle has sprung up. City officials say this would be their first experience with a geothermal system, and with no regulations in place, they want to proceed carefully before issuing any permits.

Read more from this Boston Globe report

Labels:

Advocates Push for Geothermal Energy

Advocates push for geothermal energy

Gazette Washington Bureau

Geothermal resources could provide a significant share of Montana's and the country's energy needs, but only if state and federal policies begin supporting it, advocates of the clean, renewable technology said Thursday.

Karl Gawell, executive director of the Geothermal Energy Association, said the U.S. could triple its geothermal capacity in the next decade but only if research and development funding levels and government incentives put it on a level to compete with other emerging energy technologies.

Read the full news report from Billings Gazette, Mar 2007

Labels:

Canton Votes to Install Geothermal Systems in Schools

Canton Votes to Install Geothermal Systems in Schools

March 7, 2007

Canton, Illinois - The Canton School Board voted to spend $1.8 million on geothermal heating and cooling systems at Eastview and Westview Elementary schools.

The systems will be installed this summer and should be operational at the start of the next school year.

Full news story from here, @ PJStar

Labels:

Geothermal Energy Delivering Big Savings - Case Study

Geothermal energy delivering big savings

Ground-source heating attracts interest despite initial costs

By James Bow - Business Edge
09 Mar 2007

In only two months last year, Eric Lange's company, Lange Transportation and Storage Ltd. found $12,000 in energy savings beneath his company's 70,000-sq.-ft. Mississauga warehouse after installing a geothermal heating & cooling system.

Geothermal energy conjures up images of homes heated by volcanic hot springs in Iceland or Japan, but the system Lange installed, referred to as ground-source heating and cooling, works most places on the planet.

Geothermal power may not be for every building, and initial capital costs are an obstacle.

Read more from this report @ Business Edge Canada

Labels: ,

 
  In the beginning, there were algae,
but there was no oil Then, from algae came oil.
Now, the algae are still there, but oil is fast depleting
In future, there will be no oil, but there will still be algae  
So, doesn't it make sense to explore if we can again get oil from algae?
This is what we try to do at Oilgae.com - explore the potential of getting oil from algae