HOW CAN WE USE GEOTHERMAL ENERGY

Geothermal energy: is thermal energy generated and stored in the Earth. Thermal energy is the energy that determines the temperature of matter.

Where does geothermal energy come from?

Geothermal energy is essentially energy in the form of heat below the Earth’s surface. There are two main contributors to this energy:

• The Earth’s internal heat
• Heat energy from the Sun

About 80% of the Earth’s internal heat comes from radioactive decay of minerals, while the remaining 20% can be sourced back to planetary accretion  (the formation of our planet).

Geothermal electricity generation: How can we generate electricity with geothermal energy? The warm water vapor (steam) from underground geothermal reservoirs is captured. The vapor is lead through pipes to steam turbines where the electricity is generated. The current installed geothermal power capacity is about 10 715 MW, which is distributed among 24 countries.

Geothermal Direct Heating

The world’s total installed capacity of geothermal direct heating was estimated to be 28 GW in 2004. This included data from about 70 countries. Here are the most common appliances of direct heating:

• District heating
• Greenhouses

Residential Geothermal Heating and Cooling :

The Earth acts as an insulator, absorbing the energy and keeping it there. While the temperatures at the surface changes with the weather, the temperatures just below the surface are relatively stable.We can exploit this temperature difference for both heating in the winter and cooling in the summer.