Geothermal resources are one of the oldest sources of renewable energy, used for heating for thousands of years, and growing in importance for power generation. Gathering the heat from underground reservoirs of hot water and steam, and using it to supply turbines to generate electricity, is finding more interest as a power generation technology.
Geothermal heat pumps are being more widely used, with the ability to utilize the mostly constant temperature of the Earth’s surface for heating and cooling homes and buildings. The heat pumps use a closed-loop system of pipes buried underground to transfer heat between the ground and a structure. Dandelion Energy, a spinoff of Google X, and homebuilder Lennar have joined to build a community in Jefferson County, Colorado, that will use ground-source heat pumps in more than 1,500 homes. The project benefits from local utility Xcel Energy’s rebate plan to improve energy efficiency and support electrification, in this case electric heating.
Want to learn more about geothermal power? Read this article and listen to this POWER Podcast from Aaron Larson, POWER’s executive editor.
The town of Steamboat Springs in Colorado is looking at a community geothermal system for a housing development there, and a shared geothermal system has been designed to a serve a 7,500-home development in Austin, Texas.
Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, Colorado, just miles from the state’s border with Utah, has installed a geothermal energy network responsible for heating and cooling the more than two-thirds of the campus, and school officials have said the system—which was first designed in 2007—will soon serve even more facilities.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management held a lease/sale of land in Utah for potential geothermal development earlier this month. The sale netted the most money per acre in recent memory, with 14 parcels bringing in more than $5.6 million. The parcels totaled 50,971 acres and were leased for an average of $111.47 per acre.
A handful of countries generate more than 15% of their electricity from geothermal energy, including Iceland, El Salvador, Kenya, the Philippines, New Zealand, and Costa Rica. POWER in 2022 visited Iceland to tour that country’s geothermal power stations, which in some cases also serve as business parks and are an integral part of the island’s economy.
POWER recently has published a series of articles related to geothermal power, ranging from the importance of geothermal as a power generation resource, to technologies supporting the development of geothermal. Links to those articles are below; check them out to learn more about geothermal technology.
Shallow Geothermal Energy: A Strategic Solution for the U.S. Energy Crisis and Demands
The Engine of Geothermal Power: The Role of Synchronous Generators and Induction Motors
Geothermal Turbines: Harnessing Earth’s Heat for Sustainable Energy
Corporations also are moving to embrace geothermal. Global geothermal energy developer Baseload Capital joined with technology giant Google earlier in April for the first corporate power purchase agreement for geothermal in Taiwan.
—Darrell Proctor is a senior editor for POWER.
