Speculation, economic growth, and global tensions recently drove oil prices to around $50 per barrel. In a world in which energy consumption is constantly rising, the potential to tap geothermal energy is stunning.
To understand why, let’s examine the technology of geothermal power, including its pluses and minuses.
When tectonic plates crash into each other, and volcanoes, molten rock, and hot springs are present, an incredible amount of heat is generated. After pumping water into the ground, the heated water can be used to make electricity. Unlike the limited supply of oil, there is an endless supply of this energy.
The main geothermal areas of this type are located in New Zealand, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Iceland, Italy, eastern Africa, as well as California, Hawaii, and Mexico, according to a report in The Guardian by Paul Brown.
In many of these places, such renewable energy sources are already being extensively tapped. For example, in the Philippines, geothermal already supplies 15 percent of that nation’s energy needs, and hydroelectric power provides 19 percent. And it plays a big part in a new $25 billion Filipino government plan to lift the impoverished nation out of oil dependence.
In his “energy independence agenda,” Filipino Energy Secretary Vincent Perez acknowledged an urgent need to cap growth in last year’s $4 billion bill for crude oil and oil products to feed motor fuel and power generation demand. Today, the Philippines is already the world’s second largest geothermal producer, converting volcanic power into electricity.
Under the new plan, the Philippines will overtake the United States as the leading producer of renewable power
by developing 10 proposed
new geothermal fields. As such, geothermal will be a big portion of the additional 5,200 megawatts of power generating capacity scheduled to come online by 2014, to meet rising demand, according to the Manila Bulletin.
After a number of years of decreased activity, the United States is also becoming more active in exploiting geothermal energy. Daniel Kunz, president of Boise-based U.S. Geothermal, has spent three years securing energy rights and leasing and buying property, and he expects to put a proposed 10-megawatt geothermal generation plant in Idaho online by 2006. As the Associated...
