Geothermal energy has been used for many years in some countries for heating and cooking. It is derived from the Earth’s internal heat which is mostly contained in the rock and fluids beneath the Earth’s crust. A geothermal heat pump system can take advantage of the stable temperature of the upper zone of the Earth’s surface. Iceland in this case has at least 25 active volcanoes and many hot geysers and hot springs.
The Icelandic geothermal energy has been used for a quite long time. The people in Iceland have used this kind of energy for multiple purposes such as heating their greenhouses or even washing their clothes as in the early 20th century. Arnarsson was the first permanent settler in Iceland people have figured out many ways to use this energy. When he came to Reykjavík, he saw smoke coming out of the geothermal zones which are in Laugardalur. Which made Icelanders translate Reykjavík to “Smoky Bay”.
In the middle of 18th century was the first experiment of using geothermal energy for house heating. The steam of the hot water is used to heat up ground water and that water is pumped into pipes which go into people’s houses and provide them with heated water. Geothermal heat is also used by many companies to dry some products, like fish heads and wood. The heat is also used for some other things for example to bake bread and heat up footpaths, streets and parking places.
Advantages:
- No need of burning a fossil fuel to extract.
- Much less carbon dioxide produced.
- Always available unlike solar or wind energy.
- Inexpensive.
Iceland is generating 25% of the country’s total electricity production. In the 20th century Iceland has increased its use of geothermal energy, which moved the country’s from being one the poorest among Europe to a country with a higher standard of living. Most of the countries energy now is derived from renewable resources.
In the next several years IDDP is expected to drill down in number of boreholes in Iceland that will penetrate supercritical zones. It will require a drilling of almost 5 km in depth in order to reach hydrothermal fluids at temperatures that range from 450°C to around 600°C.
A feasibility study completed in 2003 indicates that relative to the output from conventional geothermal wells, which are 2.5 km deep, a ten-fold increase in power output per well could result if fluid is produced from reservoirs hotter than 450°C . A typical 2.5 km-deep geothermal well in Iceland yields power equivalent to approximately 5 MWe. Assuming a similar volumetric inflow rate of steam, an IDDP well tapping a supercritical reservoir at temperatures above 450°C and at a pressure of 23-26 MPa may be expected to yield ~50 MWe.
References:
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/geothermal-profile/
http://www.nea.is/geothermal/
http://waterfire.fas.is/GeothermalEnergy/GeothermalEnergy.php