Comments on: Geothermal: An Underrated Climate Solution

By: Gary Abraham

Gary Abraham — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 15:57:34 +0000

Too bad we didn’t heed advice like Mr. Barton’s for wind. Now we know it runs on no better than 20% capacity factor (so divide megawatts generated as asserted by the industry by 5) and produces least during summer days when need most, and produces most (winter nights) when needed least. That’s why a generation of experience with wind in Europe has yet to displace a single conventional power plant. And there, more densely populated than the U.S., policy is increasingly moving toward off-shore siting to avoid nuisance noise impacts on people. A 60-turbine wind farfm slices through 10,000 acres on average, compared to

By: Cbarles Barton

Cbarles Barton — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 23:51:36 +0000

Using geothermal energy from deep in the earth can be dangerous, as the Swiss recently learned, when a geothermal power plant in Basel triggered an earthquake.

http://www.treehugger.com/ files/ 2007/ 01/ geothermal_powe.php

I had long suspected that earthquakes might be an issue with geothermal power. (I took a freshman geology class, so I am an expert.) Over most of the United States, the hot rocks are three of four miles down, so drilling is going to be expensive. As you withdrawal heat from the earth, you will have to move your hole. So we have the problem of geological instability, and uncertain expense connected with geothermal power. In places volcanic areas like California and Iceland, geothermal works, but i do think that geothermal power is not popular in Basel at the moment. We need far more research, and experimentation befre we bet on geothermal.

By: Dan-G

Dan-G — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 13:48:30 +0000

My residential geothermal heat pump comes out only
slightly cheaper than than LP gas in heating but for
cooling it is almost 1/3 the cost of typical air exchange
whole house air conditioning. Imagine if all air conditioners
ran on this principle. It saves so much on peak electricity
generation that my power supplier gives me a lower electric
rate because of my heat pump.

Payout was originally calculated to be at 12 years but due to
rising cost of LP gas I believe it has paid off much sooner.

By: MikeB

MikeB — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 13:14:45 +0000

I agree that Geothermal Power is neglected, which is a shame. I’d definitely like to see it considered along with Solar and Wind as a good choice for green energy.

I think you might also mention the advantages of another style of Geothermal, the Geothermal Heat Pump: where you exchange heat with the constant temperature ground rather than the air for your HVAC needs. Geothermal Heat Pumps can be more than twice as efficient at both heating and cooling homes and businesses, though higher installation costs push the payback out several years. Given how much power we use on heating & cooling, greater adoption of this type of technology could have a huge net impact.