"and trap in the deeper heat. Due to the low permeability of granite, the hot rocks must undergo hydraulic fracturing and be stimulated to allow a flow of water through the system to produce energy. This heat is slowly conducted to shallower rocks near the surface. Petratherm propose developing the geothermal energy in the more permeable sedimentary rocks that overlay the hot granite, a process called Heat Exchange Within Insulator (HEWI). While somewhat cooler, in many cases they do not require hydraulic fracturing. It is estimated that one percent of geothermal energy shallower than five kilometres below the earth's surface"
"for geothermal energy can be from deep within the Earth, all the way down to Earth's core – down. At the core, temperatures may reach over 9,000 °F (5,000 °C). Heat conducts from the core to surrounding rock. Extremely high temperature and pressure cause some rock to melt, which is commonly known as magma. Magma convects upward since it is lighter than the solid rock. This magma then heats rock and water in the crust, sometimes up to . From hot springs, geothermal energy has been used for bathing since Paleolithic times and for space heating since ancient Roman times,"
"convecting upward since it is lighter than the surrounding rock. Rock and water is heated in the crust, sometimes up to 370 °C (700 °F). From hot springs, geothermal energy has been used for bathing since Paleolithic times and for space heating since ancient Roman times, but it is now better known for electricity generation. Worldwide, 11,400 megawatts (MW) of geothermal power is online in 24 countries in 2012. An additional 28 gigawatts of direct geothermal heating capacity is installed for district heating, space heating, spas, industrial processes, desalination and agricultural applications in 2010. Geothermal power is cost effective, reliable,"
"counts to the renewable energies and comes from the decay of natural radioisotopes in the rock of the earth's crust and from the heat exchange with the deeper Earth's interior. The heat can be used directly or by combined heat and power to generate electricity. There are opened and closed systems to use geothermal power, but only the opened system really matters in the worldwide use because it’s more efficient. Water is extracted from hot earth layers directly or is artificially pressed into the underground and then extracted back up in form of heated water or steam. With this technique"
"earth, and ""θερμος (thermos)"", meaning hot. Earth's internal heat is thermal energy generated from radioactive decay and continual heat loss from Earth's formation. Temperatures at the core–mantle boundary may reach over 4000 °C (7,200 °F). The high temperature and pressure in Earth's interior cause some rock to melt and solid mantle to behave plastically, resulting in portions of the mantle convecting upward since it is lighter than the surrounding rock. Rock and water is heated in the crust, sometimes up to 370 °C (700 °F). With water from hot springs, geothermal energy has been used for bathing since Paleolithic times"
"the magma steam were used to generate 36MW of power, making IDDP-1 the world’s first magma-enhanced geothermal system. Magma Magma (from Ancient Greek μάγμα (""mágma"") meaning ""thick unguent"") is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are derived. Magma is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also been discovered on other terrestrial planets and some natural satellites. Besides molten rock, magma may also contain suspended crystals and gas bubbles. Magma is produced by melting of the mantle and/or the crust at various tectonic settings, including subduction zones, continental rift zones,"
"National Science Foundation. This project has also been used for purposes such as university research. Researchers from UC Davis, UC Riverside, Stanford University, and the University of Oregon have taken the opportunity to collaborate with each other and the IDDP. They have aimed their investigation to gain information about extracting energy from hot rocks on land. To do this, they have been gathering important information from the borehole they sunk where seawater circulates through deep, hot rock. This should give important new clues about black smokers, hydrothermal vents that spew minerals and superheated water deep below the ocean. These support"
"energy may be released to active kinetic energy in landslides, after a triggering event. Earthquakes also release stored elastic potential energy in rocks, a kind of mechanical potential energy which has been produced ultimately from the same radioactive heat sources. Thus, according to present understanding, familiar events such as landslides and earthquakes release energy which has been stored as potential energy in the Earth's gravitational field, or elastic strain (mechanical potential energy) in rocks. Prior to this, the energy represented by these events had been stored in heavy atoms (or in the gravitational potential of the Earth). The energy stored"
"rock that already exhibit enhanced permeability. The plan for United Downs is to drill three boreholes to a true depth of . Water is pumped down a borehole which then travels through fractures in the rock, capturing the heat, until it is pumped out of one or more production boreholes as very hot pressurised water, which is then converted into electricity using a steam turbine. The water for charging the reservoir will come from flooded mines, not from the local water supply. The hot water produced by the plant can also be used to supply thermal energy and air conditioning"
"Hydrothermal explosion Hydrothermal explosions occur when superheated water trapped below the surface of the earth rapidly converts from liquid to steam, violently disrupting the confining rock. Boiling water, steam, mud, and rock fragments called breccia are ejected over an area of a few meters up to several kilometers in diameter. Although the energy inherently comes from a deep igneous source, this energy is transferred to the surface by circulating meteoric water rather than by magma, as occurs in volcanic eruptions. The energy is stored as heat in hot water and rock within a few hundred feet of the surface. Hydrothermal"
"Geothermal energy Geothermal energy is thermal energy generated and stored in the Earth. Thermal energy is the energy that determines the temperature of matter. The geothermal energy of the Earth's crust originates from the original formation of the planet and from radioactive decay of materials (in currently uncertain but possibly roughly equal proportions). The geothermal gradient, which is the difference in temperature between the core of the planet and its surface, drives a continuous conduction of thermal energy in the form of heat from the core to the surface. The adjective ""geothermal"" originates from the Greek roots ""γη (ge)"", meaning"
"volcanic activity or heat derived from deep within the earth. Though some confusion arises when the term """"geothermal"""" is also used to apply to temperatures within the first 100 metres of the surface, this is """"Earth heat"""" all the same, though it is largely influenced by stored energy from the sun. The heat pump was described by Lord Kelvin in 1853 and developed by Peter Ritter von Rittinger in 1855. After experimenting with a freezer, Robert C. Webber built the first direct exchange ground-source heat pump in the late 1940s. The first successful commercial project was installed in the Commonwealth"
"recoverable resources improves with drilling depth and proximity to tectonic plate boundaries. In ground that is hot but dry, or where water pressure is inadequate, injected fluid can stimulate production. Developers bore two holes into a candidate site, and fracture the rock between them with explosives or high-pressure water. Then they pump water or liquefied carbon dioxide down one borehole, and it comes up the other borehole as a gas. This approach is called hot dry rock geothermal energy in Europe, or enhanced geothermal systems in North America. Much greater potential may be available from this approach than from conventional"
"depending on context). Underground mining (soft rock) Underground soft rock mining is a group of underground mining techniques used to extract coal, oil shale, potash and other minerals or geological materials from sedimentary (""soft"") rocks. Because deposits in sedimentary rocks are commonly layered and relatively less hard, the mining methods used differ from those used to mine deposits in igneous or metamorphic rocks (""see Underground mining (hard rock)""). Underground mining techniques also differ greatly from those of surface mining. The number sign, or hash sign (#) is often used as shorthand to denote shaft or seam, as in 4# (4"
"utilize geothermal power and would warrant further exploration. Geothermal exploration Geothermal exploration is the exploration of the subsurface in search of viable active geothermal regions with the goal of building a geothermal power plant, where hot fluids drive turbines to create electricity. Exploration methods include a broad range of disciplines including geology, geophysics, geochemistry and engineering. Geothermal regions with adequate heat flow to fuel power plants are found in rift zones, subduction zones and mantle plumes. Hot spots are characterized by four geothermal elements. An active region will have: Exploration involves not only identifying hot geothermal bodies, but also low-density,"
"efficient than geothermal electricity generation and has less demanding temperature requirements, so it is viable over a large geographical range. If the shallow ground is hot but dry, air or water may be circulated through earth tubes or downhole heat exchangers which act as heat exchangers with the ground. Steam under pressure from deep geothermal resources is also used to generate electricity from geothermal power. The Iceland Deep Drilling Project struck a pocket of magma at 2,100m. A cemented steelcase was constructed in the hole with a perforation at the bottom close to the magma. The high temperatures and pressure"
"a potential way of addressing some of the UK's ""energy gap"" There is what may be mistakenly known as geothermal energy at shallow depths but it is technically solar energy; the upper 10–15 m of ground is heated by solar radiation and not (except in rare exceptions) geothermal energy. This acts a heat store and can be exploited in a number of different ways. This heat can be utilised by ground source heat pumps that can substantially reduce heating bills and reduce the associated carbon footprint. The heat from the sun is conducted downwards into the ground. At a depth"
"in the world. Underground coal gasification (UCG) is a way of accessing energy from coal deposits that lie too deep underground or are too dangerous to be mined or are otherwise uneconomic. Air, oxygen or steam is injected at high temperatures, to burn the coal underground. Separate wells are drilled to capture the resulting “coal gas” which is in essence a form of natural gas. When combined with CCS, this offers a low-emissions route to generating electricity from coal. The Coromandel Watchdog lobby group has been active in lobbying against gold mining on the Coromandel Peninsula since the 1970s. It"
"thermal energy generated and stored in the Earth. Thermal energy is the energy that determines the temperature of matter. Earth's geothermal energy originates from the original formation of the planet and from radioactive decay of minerals (in currently uncertain but possibly roughly equal proportions). The geothermal gradient, which is the difference in temperature between the core of the planet and its surface, drives a continuous conduction of thermal energy in the form of heat from the core to the surface. The adjective ""geothermal"" originates from the Greek roots ""geo"", meaning earth, and ""thermos"", meaning heat. The heat that is used"
"hydrothermal energy production can only exploit hot fluids already in place in the earth’s crust, an HDR system (consisting of the pressurized HDR reservoir, the boreholes drilled from the surface, and the surface injection pumps and associated plumbing) recovers the earth’s heat from hot but dry regions via the closed-loop circulation of pressurized fluid. This fluid, injected from the surface under high pressure, opens pre-existing joints in the basement rock, creating a man-made reservoir which can be as much as a cubic kilometer in size. The fluid injected into the reservoir absorbs thermal energy from the high-temperature rock surfaces and"
"Underground mining (soft rock) Underground soft rock mining is a group of underground mining techniques used to extract coal, oil shale, potash and other minerals or geological materials from sedimentary (""soft"") rocks. Because deposits in sedimentary rocks are commonly layered and relatively less hard, the mining methods used differ from those used to mine deposits in igneous or metamorphic rocks (""see Underground mining (hard rock)""). Underground mining techniques also differ greatly from those of surface mining. The number sign, or hash sign (#) is often used as shorthand to denote shaft or seam, as in 4# (4 shaft or seam"
"higher temperatures of deep resources. The thermal efficiency and profitability of electricity generation is particularly sensitive to temperature. The most demanding applications receive the greatest benefit from a high natural heat flux, ideally from using a hot spring. The next best option is to drill a well into a hot aquifer. If no adequate aquifer is available, an artificial one may be built by injecting water to hydraulically fracture the bedrock. This last approach is called hot dry rock geothermal energy in Europe, or enhanced geothermal systems in North America. Much greater potential may be available from this approach than"
"to the workplaces, and can be modified for use as emergency escape routes. The primary sources of heat in underground hard rock mines are virgin rock temperature, machinery, auto compression, and fissure water. Other small contributing factors are human body heat and blasting. Some means of support is required in order to maintain the stability of the openings that are excavated. This support comes in two forms; local support and area support. Area ground support is used to prevent major ground failure. Holes are drilled into the back (ceiling) and walls and a long steel rod (or rock bolt) is"
"plate tectonics and may lift mountains, via orogenesis. This slow lifting represents a kind of gravitational potential energy storage of the thermal energy, which may be later released to active kinetic energy in landslides, after a triggering event. Earthquakes also release stored elastic potential energy in rocks, a store that has been produced ultimately from the same radioactive heat sources. Thus, according to present understanding, familiar events such as landslides and earthquakes release energy that has been stored as potential energy in the Earth's gravitational field or elastic strain (mechanical potential energy) in rocks. Prior to this, they represent release"
"overheating. Alternatively, the stored energy can be used for cooling buildings. The system was developed in the Netherlands and has been licensed by Ullapool-based Invisible Energy Systems, who have installed the technology in their car park. Geothermal energy is obtained by tapping the heat of the earth itself. Most systems in Scotland provide heating through a ground source heat pump which brings energy to the surface via shallow pipe works. An example is the Glenalmond Street project in Shettleston, which uses a combination of solar and geothermal energy to heat 16 houses. Water in a coal mine below ground level"
"is no commercial production of geothermal energy in Australia. Exploration involves finding vast blocks of ""hot rocks"" with fracture systems that could generate electricity through water being injected, circulated through the fractures, and being returned to surface as steam which could then be used to rotate steam turbines. There are vast deep-seated granite systems in Central Australia that have high temperatures at depth and these are being drilled by companies such as Panax Geothermal, Geodynamics Ltd, Petratherm, Green Rock Energy and Pacific Hydro to depths of more than four kilometres. South Australia has been described as ""Australia's hot rock haven"""
"retained within the Earth since the original formation of the planet, from radioactive decay of minerals, and from solar energy absorbed at the surface. Most high temperature geothermal heat is harvested in regions close to tectonic plate boundaries where volcanic activity rises close to the surface of the Earth. In these areas, ground and groundwater can be found with temperatures higher than the target temperature of the application. However, even cold ground contains heat, below the undisturbed ground temperature is consistently at the Mean Annual Air Temperature and it may be extracted with a heat pump. There are a wide"
"enters the cistern. Injection wells are used to tap geothermal energy in hot, porous rock formations below the surface by injecting fluids into the ground, which is heated in the ground, then extracted from adjacent wells as fluid, steam, or a combination of both. The heated steam and fluid can then be utilized to generate electricity or directly for geothermal heating. In the United States, injection well activity is regulated by EPA and state governments under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). EPA has issued Underground Injection Control (UIC) regulations in order to protect drinking water sources. EPA regulations define"
"Geothermal exploration Geothermal exploration is the exploration of the subsurface in search of viable active geothermal regions with the goal of building a geothermal power plant, where hot fluids drive turbines to create electricity. Exploration methods include a broad range of disciplines including geology, geophysics, geochemistry and engineering. Geothermal regions with adequate heat flow to fuel power plants are found in rift zones, subduction zones and mantle plumes. Hot spots are characterized by four geothermal elements. An active region will have: Exploration involves not only identifying hot geothermal bodies, but also low-density, cost effective regions to drill and already constituted"
"water and accelerated cooling of rock formations can cause earth tremors. Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) fracture underground rock to produce more steam; such projects can cause earthquakes. Certain geothermal projects (such as one near Basel, Switzerland in 2006) have been suspended or canceled owing to objectionable seismicity induced by geothermal recovery. However, risks associated with ""hydrofracturing induced seismicity are low compared to that of natural earthquakes, and can be reduced by careful management and monitoring"" and ""should not be regarded as an impediment to further development of the Hot Rock geothermal energy resource"". Currently solar photovoltaic power is used primarily"
"coal mining presented incredible economic challenges for the region as residents struggled with massive unemployment in the 1960's. An unexpected legacy and benefit from the abandoned coal mines is being realized in the form of geothermal energy. Since their closure, the mines have filled with ground water which is heated to an average temperature of 18° C (65 °F) by the surrounding earth. Beginning in the late 1980s, this heat source has been exploited by companies located in Springhill's industrial park, situated on the land where the surface facilities of the coal mines were located, reducing winter heating bills substantially."
"of the magma steam were used to generate 36MW of electricity, making IDDP-1 the world’s first magma-enhanced geothermal system. In areas where the shallow ground is too cold to provide comfort directly, it is still warmer than the winter air. The thermal inertia of the shallow ground retains solar energy accumulated in the summertime, and seasonal variations in ground temperature disappear completely below 10m of depth. That heat can be extracted with a geothermal heat pump more efficiently than it can be generated by conventional furnaces. Geothermal heat pumps are economically viable essentially anywhere in the world. In theory, geothermal"
"attractions such as the Blue Lagoon. The geothermal water originates 2,000 metres below the surface, where freshwater and seawater combine at extreme temperatures. It is then harnessed via drilling holes at a nearby geothermal power plant, Svartsengi, to create electricity and hot water for nearby communities. This Blue Lagoon is entirely powered by geothermal energy. Geothermal power in Iceland Due to the geological location of Iceland (over a rift in continental plates), the high concentration of volcanoes in the area is often an advantage in the generation of geothermal energy, the heating and making of electricity. During winter, pavements near"