Geothermal energy is the process of harnessing the heat that is coming out of the earth for the creation of electricity. Due to the fact that the location where the heat is being collected can be depleted this form of energy is not always classified as a renewable energy although since the heat will last a long time before it runs out it is classified as a renewable energy source.

How the energy is generated

    In areas where there is hot ground water, holes are drilled into the earth. The water or steam comes up then it flows to turbines that turn to create electricity. Since 1904 we have known how to use geothermal energy for electricity. Currently there are about 8,000 megawatts of electricity created annually, 2,700 of which are created by the United States. A new practice that is being used is the process of revitalizing a used or depleted steam vent. This is where waste water is injected into the vent to create more steam. The drawback to this is that if too much water is used at one time it could cool the vent off too much and make the vent unusable. At a couple of sites world wide there have been many small earthquakes recorded after the vent has been restarted due to depletion.

Where the energy is generated

    Most of the geothermal heat vents in the United States are located in California, Nevada and Oregon; or the west coast of the United States. In the country of Kenya in Africa there are also large underground bodies of water that provide excellent sources of geothermal energy. The company KenGen in Kenya has 2 plants with more planned that currently create 25% of Kenya’s electricity demands. World wide 20 countries utilize the energy created from geothermal energy, they include; United States, Iceland, Italy, France, New Zealand, Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Russia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Japan.

Costs of using geothermal energy

    Recently due to rising prices of other forms of energy geothermal energy has become more popular. In the past however, when energy such as oil was cheap geothermal energy was too expensive for most companies to invest in.