Unlike solar and wind powers, geothermal power is cost-effective and a reliable source, 24/7 whole year round at a consistent and predictable rate. What’s more, according to the estimates of MIT, only 2% of the available heat energy at three to ten kilometers below the grounds of US would suffice to supply 2,500 times of the current power demand in US.
Remarkably, geothermal power is not limited to industrial usage and grids, as it may also be used to power a single house.
The residential type of geothermal power involves a geothermal heat pump, which utilizes the solar heat absorbed by the earth, 100 feet below the surface, with the grounds acting as solar panels, absorbing as much as 60 to 70% of solar energy.
On the other hand, the industrial type generates electricity from the heat stored two miles or more below the earth’s surface.
Recent technological developments in geothermal power are also paving ways for more available energies. New drilling methods make it possible to access geothermal fields that were inaccessible in the past. New technologies have also been developed to produce electricity from abandoned oil and gas wells by converting heat and steam from their hot brine solutions to electrical power.
