Geothermal Energy

Geothermal energy is energy that is gained from intensive heat that continuously flows outward from deep within the Earth. “Geothermal” has its roots in two Greek words, “gheo” which means Earth and “thermal” which means heat. This energy is mainly generated from Earth's core since temperature of Earth's center is reaching temperatures above 6000 degrees Celsius which is even hot enough to melt a rock.

Geothermal energy has been used to provide recreational and medical services in form of hot spring pools for bathing but today, the push for alternative source of renewable energy has re-directed the use of geothermal energy in a different direction, now geothermal energy is being used to generate electricity and heat for homes and industrial facilities. Uses of geothermal energy for central heating of the buildings and for generating electricity are the main ways of its exploration, but not the only ones.

 Use and Working Principle

Geothermal energy can be also used in many other ways and it's used for pasteurizing milk, paper manufacturing, in swimming pools, drying timber and wool, animal husbandry etc. Main advantage of geothermal energy lies in the fact that this is renewable energy source since heat of Earth's core is constantly radiating from within. Geothermal power plants have almost negligible negative effect on environment and aren’t expensive and have significantly smaller operational costs than many other energy sources.

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Geothermal energy – Working principle

the working principle of geothermal energy is simple to understand, the energy is extracted from steam, hot water and hot rocks from Earth's crust. This extraction depends on how hot the rocks are, how hot the water gets, and how much water can be pumped down to these rocks.

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Geothermal Energy Schematic Diagram [Source: DOE Geothermal Energy Technical Site (INEL)].

Source: Alternateformsofenergy.com