Geothermal Project to Tap into Volcano for Energy Production

New Zealand has been using geothermal power for decades.

We as American citizens should do our best, for our own good, to become energy self sufficient or cut our consumption as much as possible. Why with all the sun do people have hot water heaters in Florida with all the abundant sun? Why not use solar hot water heaters? For colder climates there are Solar Evacuated Tube systems a technology that is very efficient for hot water or heating. Unfortunately since we got away from this technology in the Reagan administration our country is not the leader in any of this technology but we can catch up if we devote some resources to alternatives. Yes I know about Solyndra mistakes do happen granted but that didn't stop us from getting to the moon now did it. If we gave up after every mistake or failure we would still be living in caves.

Good for them, Geothermal is the power source no one talks about much in the news. Solar and wind get nearly all the press attention which they lobby for all the time. The Basin and Range geologic province in Nevada, southeastern Oregon, southwestern Idaho, Arizona and western Utah is now an area of rapid geothermal development. Plants built in Nevada at Steamboat Springs, Brady/Desert Peak, Dixie Valley, Soda Lake, Stillwater and Beowawe now produce about 235 Megawatts total; far more than the total solar inventory they've tried to build in the last 20 years. It's not 100 percent perfect. In addition to hazardous salts in our environment, some waters that are collected with the process of geothermal energy have contained high concentrations of toxic elements such as boron, lead, and arsenic. A gas that has been found in geothermal water and steam is hydrogen sulfide, which has a bad odor of rotten eggs, and is toxic in high concentrations. The emission intensity of existing geothermal electric plants is on average 122 kg of CO2 per megawatt-hour (MW·h) of electricity, about one-eighth of a conventional coal-fired plant.

The hot springs resort down the road from me has using this for a few years now. They actually get to sell back power to the power company.

hopefully we can produce all our electricity that way so we can start exporting oil and pay our 15trillion national debt

Wyoming, Hawaii, Montana and Idaho should be running on this yesterday!

I say build a gigantic magnifying glass to concentrate the suns rays into some sort of absorb collector (new term) . and back into the grid.

Go, go, go, and good luck! More power (no pun intended) to you!

good work....keep it up on this subject...

Geothermal energy is a good example of what can be done when there's the "will" to do it: the problem is that we're fighting an embedded mindset that promotes fossil fuels over all others. When "the cost is too high" is brought up, we're forgetting the massive expenditures it took to get the fossil-fuel infrastructure in place to begin with (like Topsy, it just "grew"), and the massive outlay of money and effort to maintain it.

Do it!!!

The idea for doing this at Newberry Crater has been around since at least1980. Iwas working at Paulina lake that summer and talked to USGS people that were measuring water temps and depths.
Guess the idea is becoming economicaly viable.
Just don't like the taxpayer footing $21.5 mil.

I would rather see people become self sustaining. Geothermal would be great for businesses, but I think individual people need to look more into solar and wind and stop relying on govt and large corporations for things like this.

Nicholi Tesla the father of AC aternating current and the electric motor said that geothermal energy was the way to go about 90 years ago.

Geothermal is the total solution to replace carbon/thermal pollution and dpendence upon foreign fuel. Nearl every state in the U.S. has a geothermal source that can be tapped for unlimited non-polluting power for the future. California has three (maybe more now) geothermal plants already in operation. Tel Exxon, BP, Shell et al to take apetroleum enema and call me in the morning! -- Karsten

The author of this piece made an all too common error in reporting on geothermal -- she confused geothermal power generation with geoexchange, which have nothing to do with each other.

The Ball State "geothermal initiative" she mentions toward the end heats and cools buildings by exploiting the tendency of the shallow ground to maintain a fixed temperature year round, a process called "geoexchange" or "ground-source heat pumping." In it, a fluid is circulated in buried pipes to either heat up cold air for heating in winter, or to dump waste heat from the building in the summer to help cool.

The only thing about this that is "geothermal" is that it takes advantage of the local "geothermal gradient" which is the name for the temperature profile with depth -- that is, the ground tends to warm up the deeper you go.

In geothermal power generation, hot rocks heat water (in a natural system or in an engineered system like this article discusses) that is brought to the surface and used to turn turbines for generating electricity.

The two have nothing to do with each other.

Let's frack a volcano. What could possibly go wrong?

Ken, Has the entire country of New Zeland been using Geothermal for decades? While it is noble that they have been using and harnessing Green energy for a while, a blanket statement like that sounds snide.

Geothermal Power has been around for a very long time, and has been used by many countries for decades.

Its the smartest thing i heard in a long time.It will work.

Man-made hot springs are not the same as those made by Gaia. The steam bloom could be quite impressive along with the shakes and shutters that will be produced. Somebody better make sure that siesmic sensors are in place form the very beginning.