Under today's pressure of being earth-friendly and green, many people are being forced to ditch the highly polluting fossil fuels and search for cleaner and more efficient ways to go about their daily lives. A compromise seems eminent; cleaner sources in exchange for certain luxuries of today's living standards. But no... there are already solutions that will keep us happy but also keep our planet healthy. The biggest example of this is a process called geothermal heating. Surprisingly, companies such as Chevron and Shell are pulling a 180˚turn on us and are leading the research in this area of renewable energy. The Geothermal energy recovery begins with finding areas located in the crust of the earth where dormant volcanoes have nearly breached the surface. At these points, groundwater has seeped from the surface into these empty lava chambers where it is heated by the immense pressure and magma floating below. Just as Chevron would drill for oil, they drill a hole into the crust and capture the steam that is released as a result of the water’s exposure to air. The steam is then taken and harnessed into energy. The water on the other hand, is put back into the reservoir to produce more steam. Here is a video clip from the history channel on the subject talking about how Iceland has already moved its energy sourcing in this direction and how geothermal energy can heat our homes.
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I was just curious about the cost of installing and maintaining the under ground heat exchange system mentioned in the video. This definitely sounds like a viable idea that could become very useful in the future for everyday citizens, but being under a house a quite a few feet underground makes it seem very hard to access and maintian the system. Also, would this be a solution for existing houses or can it only be set up under houses that don't yet exist?
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