Two energy companies seeking to develop electricity by boiling water in the rocks that are within five miles deep in the bowels of the earth. And while big companies like Chevron, Exxon Mobil and American Electric Power are closely following this research, yet are not investing money in them.
An Australian firm and another American, Basel Geopower seek to be the first company to generate this energy. But authorities ordered a halt to the excavations because it was found that tremors that cracked walls of the city on the Rhine in December 2006 were a freak of nature but were caused by excavations
“The geothermal resources are immense,’’said Jefferson Tester, who headed a study released this year by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which confirms the potential of heat from the earth as an energy source. Generating energy in this way will not be easy.
But first, there is a danger of causing tremors. On the other, will be expensive. The excavation of a well to extract heat from the land would cost between 7 and 8 million U.S. dollars, according to the MIT study.
The average cost of oil wells was $ 1.44 million in 2004 in the U.S., according to the Energy Information Administration.
In addition, the rocks cooled after being operated for several decades and would have to dig more wells.
Bryan Mignone, a specialist in climate change and energy issues at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said that “the new energy technologies must compete with coal, which is much cheaper.”
Currently 24 countries using geothermal energy. But those sources, geysers and hot springs are near the surface.
To use the heat from rocks deep in the earth, we must dig to reach layers of granite with temperatures of 200 degrees Celsius.
Similar equipment is used at oil wells, but you have to dig much deeper and the well must be wider to accommodate the water cycle.
United States was at the forefront of experiments to see if this was a viable alternative source.
Large energy companies like Chevron, Exxon Mobil and American Electric Power are closely following this research but are not investing money in them.
Susan Petty, who worked in the MIT study predicts that 10% of energy consumed worldwide come from geothermal sources within 50 years.
And that in 100 years, half of the energy consumed will have that origin.
