Could geothermal be the answer?

 In response to thisYahoo new Article http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100320/ap_on_bi_ge/us_geothermal_town

 During the 08' campaign, I thought we might be headed for a big increase in the use of geothermal when they were chanting "Drill Baby, Drill!"


  Geothermal has certainly been overlooked. Because the technology is basically drilling and plumbing, it's doable now, all that is required is project funding and the will to act.

  But Geothermal is not limited to the volcanic regions. Even here in geologically cool New England where the bedrock is an unremarkable sixty degrees, that sixty degrees can be tapped for airconditioning in the summer and to suppliment heating in the winter..This kind of geothermal is affordable to homeowners and businesses and is very cost efficient for apartment complexes.

  Another overlooked alternative energy source is free flow hydro power, in which small turbines that look like jet engines or windturbine, are installed in river beds, tidal zones , or attached to the pylons of bridges and docks. Rivers flow 24/7 ,365 days a year providing a more reliable source of energy than wind or solar,.The generators do not impede the flow of water, do not raise water levels and pose no threat to navigation. Compared to other forms of alternative energy, they are inexpensive and easy to install and once in place, they are hidden from view so they do not disturb the landscape.like a windturbine. Free flow generators are designed to allow fish to swim through them without harm.Fish are more than capable of avoiding the spinning turbine blades.

  In regards to heating sidewalks and roads I'm surprised that the excess heat left over from nuclear powerplants and large coal and oil plants is not tapped into for that use, instead of just being vented into the atmosphere.

  The downside with geothermal on a large scale is that even though there is no carbon footprint, geothermal releases alot of actual heat into the atmosphere that would otherwise be sequestered underground. While alot of attention has been given to carbon emmissions and the effect carbon has on global warming, little has been said about actual heat release from burning fossil fuels, nuclear power and geothermal.All three methods release huge amounts of heat into the atmosphere that would have otherwise been sequestered deep in the ground in one form or another.

  Wind, hydro and solar power are only tapping into the pre-existing energy matrix of the atmosphere, converting it from one form to another.There is waste heat produced during the generation or consumption of this energy but it's release does not result in a net gain of atmospheric energy.

  Even biofuels produced from fast growing plant material have a neutral carbon and atmospheric heat footprint. The heat and carbon released during the burning of these fuels was extracted from the atmosphere during growth of the source plant material. A full scale biofuel system could create a closed energy cycle with plants removing carbon from the air and absorbing solar heat, which is later released back into the atmosphere when it is burned.The next crop of plant material would be actively absorbing carbon and solar energy.

  The key to the success of alternative methods is to keep them free from excessive regulation and to also keep them from being controled and monopolized by large corporations, taking it out of the hands of individuals and small businesses. Over the past few years politcal wranglings have delayed the construction of the Cape Wind project. In the meantime, small operators have been installing wind turbines, one at a time,all over the place. There's even an order of Nuns in Massachusetts who have installed a large wind turbine to power their convent and it's candy making operation.You can't see the turbine until your right underneath it so it doesn't disturb the landscape. And it didn't require a billions dollars and an act of Congress to get it built.

Geothermal may be a contributor to heat in the atmosphere, but it is at least cheap and carbon free.

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