Geothermal energy heating
Posted by admin on
March 23, 2010
Geothermal energy heating is the use of the earth’s heat to produce an energy source that is clean and efficient. The way that this works is rather complex, but the use is based on the temperature difference between the air temperature on the earth and the temperature of the water contained within the rocks underground.
Extracted energy can then be used to as is, ie for heating or cooling, or it can be converted into electrical energy The heat that is harvested for this purpose is available due to the heat that has been trapped within the earth’s mantle since the creation of the planet. This coupled with heat absorbed by the earth from the sun and various other factors, is a wonderful renewable energy source and is entirely environmentally friendly.
The device used to extract this energy is called a geothermal heat pump or in some cases a ground source heat pump. It is a system that may be used for heating o cooling. It works by pumping heat to or from the ground, depending of the user’s need. By using the ground temperatures readily available, it reduces the cost of conventional heating and cooling systems. Although the initial installation cost may be higher, significantly so, than that of the average heating system, it is sure to make all of that back to you in a few years with all the savings on power bills.
Much like the workings of a fridge or an air conditioner, geothermal energy heating systems make use of a heat pump transfer the heat. These force the movement of hot air into cool spaces and cool air into hot spaces, the opposite of the natural air flow.
A natural geothermal reservoir, the locality of the heat source, comes in various forms, but the one that most current geothermal energy heating systems are based on uses hydrothermal energies. This is achieved by drilling into a mass of rocks that contains water heated by the earth itself, much like the water in natural hot springs, like those close to volcanoes. This system uses gravity as its main driving force, effective because of the difference in density between hot and cold substances.
geothermal heat energy is present everywhere underneath the earth’s surface, but can only be used at specific points. These points must meet all of the conditions before the system can be successfully installed.
These conditions are: energy must be accessible by drilling, at the depth of less than three kilometers below the surface. Sometime even to the depth of around 6 kilometers in some areas. This is because of the extremely high cost of drilling which increases with every meter downwards. The earth in this area must also be able to support long term energy production, sometimes on a rather large scale, and that the water can be transported economically to thee earth’s surface as well as on it as the water cannot be transported to far above ground.
The use of this form of power is becoming more widespread for a number of reasons. These include the readily availability of water, unlike that of coal for example. This form of energy usage not only benefits the user in terms of cost, but its also great for the environment. Perhaps geothermal energy heating is the way of the future.
Related: how geothermal energy works, geothermal energy systems