Geothermal energy
Energy that can be obtained by utilizing the heat from inside the Earth.
The term “geothermal” comes from the Greek geo (‘Earth’) and thermos (‘heat’), literally ‘heat of the Earth’.
This internal heat warms up the deeper water layers: at the rise, of the hot water or steam produce manifestations such as geysers or hot springs,
used for heating since the time of the Romans. Today, advances in drilling and pumping methods allow to exploit geothermal energy in many parts of the world.
It can be considered that there are two types of geothermal reservoirs, which could be called:
-Hot water
-Dry
Hot Water Reservoir
The forming fountains, have been take advantage of since ancient times as hot springs. Initially they could be used to cool the water before use, but they often have relatively low flow rates.
As for the one’s underground, reservoirs of very hot thermal waters anywhere from little to average depth, serve to capture the heat from inside the earth. The hot water or steam can flow naturally pumped or pulsed flow of water and steam.In most cases the operation must be made with two wells (or a pair number of wells), so that one obtains the hot water and the other is re-injected into the aquifer, having cooled the flow obtained.
Dry Deposits
In this case, there is an area underground, not too deep, with dry, hot materials or stones . Water is injected by a perforation and recovered, on the other hot, the heat is used, by means of a heat exchanger and is re-injected as previously mentioned.
-ICELAND-
Is a country located in the northeast corner of Europe.Its population is estimated at 320,000. The great grace of Iceland is that given the wide range of natural resources, an about 94% of its energy comes from renewable sources (mainly hydro and geothermal).
Iceland sits on one of the world’s greatest geothermal hot spots and a recent discovery of underground Lava has Increased the amount of geothermal energy harnessing the country could be. Iceland gets 94 percent already of its electricity from the renewable resource, and expects to be fully powered by renewable energy by 2050.
In 1940, 85% of Iceland’s energy came from coal and oil. Now 85% of the energy comes from underground volcanic water (geothermal source). Iceland currently has the largest geothermal heating system in the world, and other countries are interested. With most of its energy needs met, and having it been a success on the generation of clean energy, Iceland has made countries like the UK interested in buying this type of energy from them.
A few months ago both negotiated the construction of an underwater cable that would pump through almost 1500 kilometers geothermal energy from Iceland to the UK. Such a cord will not be cheap to build, but in the long run, Iceland would have a really nice source of revenue and Europe would not have an abundant source of clean energy.
The giant undersea cable is being proposed by Landsvirkjun, Iceland’s biggest energy company. If built, the cable would be between 1000 and 1600 kilometers long and export 5.000.000.000 de kWh of power each year. That’s between $350 million and $448 million worth of energy–enough to cover the consumption of 1.25 million homes, according to the AFP. Currently, Iceland’s economy is largely dependent on fishing. But if it is completed, the undersea cable could trigger the growth of a major new economic sector in Iceland: exported energy. With a growing demand for clean power across Europe and the rest of the world, that could make Iceland’s resources a hot commodity.
Iceland’s Biggest Plant-
It’s the Hellisheidi geothermal plant, the newest built in Iceland which has an installed capacity of 303 MWe (electrical) and 130 MWt (thermal) capacity. Iceland has an installed capacity of 665 MW – geothermal energy – so only this plant, accounts for almost half of total installed capacity. Here you may see a wonderful diagram, with the operations of each of the constituent elements, or by accessing the following link, you’ll be able to see and interactive as well as descriptive virtual tour of all its components
SOURCES-
www.sciencedaily.com
www.ecogeek.org
www.fastcompany.com