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Geothermal Energy – Thinking Outside the Box

Part I

Everyone knows that geothermal energy is the heat energy (thermos) that comes from the earth (geo). The core of the earth is hot—very hot—and we humans can use this heat to our advantage. For as long as the earth will live, the heat at its core will be there, thus making this a very powerful renewable source of energy. The heat down there is more than enough to support that earth’s population in the future. However, the core may be too hot. This is why although geothermal energy is rampant, it is greatly unscathed; geothermal energy is still not that commonplace nowadays.

We talk a lot about the weather changes today—especially global warming. Although there is substantial evidence that proves that we are contributing to it, this is not something that is entirely our fault. The earth goes through cycles in its lifespan. There was once an ice age millions of years ago and there will be one in the future, it is just the natural cycle of the earth. So we can say that we are right on the pick of that cycle and in the near future it’s going to get colder-much colder! However, the only problem is that it is coming faster than actually expected. Needless to say, we need heat energy— geothermal energy.

This is where geothermal energy comes into play. Geothermal energy can be used like the earliest form of energy that we have used: coal and oil in steam engines. There is more than enough geothermal energy in the earth to boil all the water we can get our hands on. The problem with geothermal energy is that even drilling 5 kilometers into the earth’s crust can be very dangerous and can cause calamities as disastrous as earthquakes. So what is the solution? We’ll have to think outside the box!!!

Part II

We humans would have to think outside the box. All this time, we’ve used the energy we had to make steam and drive turbines in order to make electricity—from coal to water to nuclear power. The problem is that the more efficient systems like coal and nuclear produce by-products that are not clean. Geothermal energy does not.

The main idea of geothermal energy is to drill far enough into the earth to get the heat to make water boil. However, this aspect of geothermal energy can be disastrous for us as we can alter the earth’s rhythm, and as mentioned, earthquakes would be more than likely to happen if we blindly access the earth’s geothermal energy. We would then have to think outside the box.

We do not really need to dig 5 kilometers deep to access the earth’s geothermal energy. We can actually dig to only a fraction of the 5 km, and still get enough heat. Even 2 km should do the trick. Now, even with all our advanced technology, we still use the most traditional methods to do most of the things we do—this is why we still use water and steam. The problem is that the boiling point of water is a bit too high. The geothermal energy produced at 2 km would not do the trick here.

Well, the key is NOT to use water. The key is to use other more volatile liquids to generate steam. The key is to use the liquids that can boil at the temperature of those 2 kilometers or so. There are a few liquids in mind when it comes to this, but we need to make them more prolific and widespread in order to be able to tap into the sustainable geothermal energy.

By exploiting geothermal energy wisely and doing the above, we can then rest assured that our energy needs are met for the future.

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