Future Blog Post

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Published: January 01, 2199

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Geothermal energy and future

4 minute read

Published: June 21, 2023

Future of renewable energy

Renewable energy sources are emerging as a viable alternative to traditional energy sources to counter the environmental and economic consequences of fossil fuels. Renewable energy sources like solar and wind power have shown great promise, but they come with their own set of challenges. One of the biggest challenges facing renewable energy is the intermittent of their availability. A small portion of the Sahara Desert is enough to power the world by tapping solar energy with PV collectors. However, the story raises the question of feasibility. Solar energy needs to be stored overnight, and the total battery storage system cannot even store energy that supplies global demand for an hour. This story is common for wind technology. This realization has prompted the search for renewable energy technologies that can serve as a base load and round the clock and geothermal energy has emerged as a potential candidate. Geothermal energy ====== Geothermal energy is one such technology that can overcome the intermittency issue of wind and solar. Geothermal is a base load energy source, meaning it provides a constant supply of energy, is available 24/7, and is not affected by weather conditions. This also omits the necessity of energy storage systems making it a reliable solution to the world’s energy needs. Another important advantage of geothermal is that it could be used as heat or electricity depending on the user needs. In many energy systems, meeting heating demand involves generating electricity and then converting it into heat, which reduces the overall efficiency of the system. But geothermal system is flexible and can be designed to get either heat or electricity based on the end use requirement. Especially colder countries like Canada, where spacing heating constituents more than 80% of total energy in residential buildings, as well as significant portion of heating in other sectors including manufacturing and mining, could benefit from direct heat use from geothermal systems. Geothermal as the name suggests is a combination of two words: ‘geo’ and ‘thermal’, which means the heat from earth. Heat energy from earth’s core is utilized in the form of heat or electricity for end use. From ancient times, geothermal energy is being used for different applications like natural hot water bathing and fishing. However, more advanced technology, such as geothermal power generation and direct heat utilization for different residential and industrial activities, has been used to tap geothermal energy for past 100 years. Limitations of geothermal energy ====== Geothermal energy, despite having several advantages over other renewable energy sources, a long history, and the installation of the first commercial power plant in Italy in 1913, paradoxically has a much lower power and energy generation today. With a capacity of only 16 GWe and 107 GWTH (literature in the literature folder – geothermal direct use), lags significantly behind wind and solar energy, which each have a capacity of approximately 1000 GWe. This disparity of low geothermal harvesting is attributed to the limitations of current hydrothermal technology, which relies on a two-hole extraction-injection system. Figure 4 depicts schematics of such systems in which hot geothermal fluid is recovered to power turbines or heat buildings before being injected back underground. However, the requirement for both geothermal fluid and high temperatures restricts its widespread application. Although the Earth’s deep regions have high temperatures, the presence of fluid is inconsistent. Geothermal systems present environmental concerns through changes to geothermal fluids and underground water systems. The corrosive properties of geothermal fluids also cause faster degradation of turbines, heat exchangers, and other machinery, reducing the effectiveness and lifespan of geothermal systems. Consequently, the limitations of conventional geothermal energy raise concerns about its expandability and feasibility.

Blog Post number 4

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Published: August 14, 2015

This is a sample blog post. Lorem ipsum I can’t remember the rest of lorem ipsum and don’t have an internet connection right now. Testing testing testing this blog post. Blog posts are cool.

Blog Post number 3

less than 1 minute read

Published: August 14, 2014

This is a sample blog post. Lorem ipsum I can’t remember the rest of lorem ipsum and don’t have an internet connection right now. Testing testing testing this blog post. Blog posts are cool.