Geothermal energy a step closer for Western Australia

“The expected expenditure for geothermal exploration for the 36 permits in the Perth Basin is more than $560million in the next six years,” he said.

“This industry has the potential to provide clean energy to the State’s electricity network and offer innovative solutions for companies to meet their own power requirements.

“Harnessing geothermal energy, for heating and power use, is another feather in the State’s clean energy cap.”

On Campus: Geothermal energy coming to University of Wisconsin-Madison

The building, set to open in 2010, consists of twin institutes: the publicly funded Wisconsin Institute for Discovery and the private Morgridge Institute for Research. It will house researchers doing interdisciplinary research designed to improve human health.

Houses use Mother Nature’s warmth

A single piece of equipment has the ability to heat and cool a home while providing some or all of a home’s hot water as well. Geothermal systems can save 30 to 70 percent on monthly bills. During the heating cycle, the fluid circulates through the loop, extracting heat from the ground. The heat energy is transferred to the geothermal unit. The unit compresses the extracted heat to a high temperature and delivers it into the home through a normal duct system or radiant heat system.
“With the cost of heating and cooling homes continuing to climb, consumers are financing the costs of energy-saving measures in their homes, both new and existing. When weighing the initial cost against the energy savings and tax advantages, the cost of the upgrades in the end are small. In some cases, the savings offset the cost in a short period of time,” he said.

What is Geothermal Energy?

Geothermal energy comes from a variety of sources of heat within the earth: the planet core, decay of naturally occurring substances within the crust and movement of continental plates as they slide against and underneath each other. Volcanoes, hot springs and steam vents represent the easily accessible points to this energy but most geothermal energy is trapped under the earth’s crust and must be accessed by drilling into the resource and harnessing the energy. The thermal energy in the uppermost 6 miles of the earth’s crust contains 50,000 times the energy of all the world’s gas and oil resources.

Raser Technologies Inc. has completed the first commercial geothermal power plant to be built in Utah in more than 20 years.

“With the major construction of Thermo completed, we will work over the next four to six weeks to complete the commissioning process and have the plant fully operational later this quarter.”