In case it’s been a while since you took a course in literature, allow me to refresh you on the concept of irony- in literature irony can defined as an unexpected twist in the story. In reality we find perhaps the greatest example of irony right below our feet; figuratively and literally. We struggle with the concept of burning through a finite supply of fossil fuel for our energy needs when the very core of our own planet is a nearly inextinguishable ball of pure heat energy.
The logic behind the concept is incredibly simple: By pumping water down into the super-heated dry rock underground, massive amounts of dry steam and flash steam are released in the process. It is the energy in this steam that can be harnessed much in the way early locomotives and ocean-liners made use of heated water.
The concept of tapping into this limitless energy reserve is nothing new. In fact geothermal power production traces its roots back to the early 1900s when the first geothermal generator proved successful in Italy. Bathers have been exploiting the benefits of hot springs for countless centuries before that even. In the 104 years that followed early attempts at transferring geothermal heat into electricity, we’ve made leaps and bounds in terms of world-wide construction of geothermal power plants and yet sadly, as of last year, geothermal power accounted for a mere 1% of the world’s energy.
The good news is that long-term studies of the environmental effects of tapping into these energy reserves are quite positive. Not only does pollution byproduct pale greatly in comparison (some 5%) to levels emitted by even our cleanest fossil fuel production facilities but even more impressive is the fact that when left to recuperate, the earth’s mantle will recover it’s lost heat thanks to near limitless heat reserves.
Experts predict that the next fifteen years will witness a massive shift in fossil fuel alternative development by focusing efforts on the energy below the earth’s crust. To provide a sense of this potential, consider the following: According to a recent report from MIT, there is enough heat energy in the hard rocks seven miles below the United States to supply current energy needs for the entire world for 30,000 years.
