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Geothermal Energy

Earth's internal heat, fueled by radioactivity, provides the energy for

plate tectonics and continental drift, mountain building, and earthquakes. It

can also be harnessed to drive electric generators and heat homes. Geothermal

energy becomes available in a practical form when underground heat is

transferred by water that is heated as it passes through a subsurface region of

hot rocks (a heat reservoir) that may be hundreds or thousands of feet deep. The

water is usually naturally occurring groundwater that seeps down along fractures

in the rock; less typically, the water is artificially introduced by being

pumped down from the surface. The water is brought to the surface, as a liquid

or steam, through holes drilled for the purpose.

By far the most abundant form of geothermal energy occurs at the relatively

low temperatures of 80

°

to 180

°

centigrade. Water circulated through heat

reservoirs in this temperature range is able to extract enough heat to warm

residential, commercial, and industrial spaces. More than 20,000 apartments in

France are now heated by warm underground water drawn from a heat reservoir in a

geologic structure near Paris called the Paris Basin. Iceland sits on a volcanic

structure known as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, is

entirely heated by geothermal energy derived from volcanic heat.

Geothermal reservoirs with temperatures above 180

°

centigrade are useful

for generating electricity. They occur primarily in regions of recent volcanic

activity as hot, dry rock; natural hot water; or natural steam. The latter two