Geothermal Energy are we playing with fire?

Thomas R Blakeslee of the Clearlight Foundation wrote an article entitled “The Folly of Fueled Power Plants” recently. In it he explores the folly of burning fuel in order to power our lifestyles rather than taping in to the natural heating capabilities of the magma below the earths crust.

 

Mr Blakeslee presents a convincing argument particularly when he expounds on the thinking that causes us to dig holes in mountains to gather fuel (uranium and coal), extract it and then in effect burn the fruit of our labour leaving dangerous by-products in storage whilst we figure out how to safely dispose of them or worse release those by-products into our atmosphere.

 

He suggests that the gathering of geo-thermal energy is as easy as drilling a couple of holes through the bedrock until we reach a level where temperatures are hot enough to superheat the water to steam. We would then pump water into one and release the steam from the other. The steam is used to drive turbines, which in turn generate electricity.

 

I have some concerns about this and as far as I can see there has been very little research done on the impact that a process like this might create.

 

There is a very real danger that if we start pumping literally tons of water through the earths crust we could be creating a greater environmental disaster – one so large that our very existence may be threatened.

 

One nation doing this may have a limited effect but imagine all the earth’s nations pouring water daily into the earths core. Cooling the core by a few degrees may trigger disasters of unimaginable proportions – ocean currents may cool slow or change course, bigger storms could be created, floods and a possibly major ice age could end life on the earth.

 

Another concern is that by pumping water through the earths crust we may actually create huge fault lines that will cause earthquakes and volcanic activity. When I was younger and living on a farm I remember that if there was a need to remove a large boulder from a field we would light a fire under it until it was hot then douse it with water. This sudden cooling caused the rock to crack and break into smaller pieces. We were then able to carry it away. I cannot imagine that pouring water through the bedrock wouldn’t have the same affect on the rock structure.

 

Right now we have the opportunity to learn to use the sun, wind, waves, tides and water to power our world. I think that messing with something as vital to our existence as the earth’s core is a far greater folly than any carbon based fuel sins that we have committed in the past. We can do so much better than this if we just co-operate and think!

Tags: coal, Energy, energy crisis, Environment, facts about solar energy, fossil fuels, geo-thermal, geothermal, global warming, Solar, Solar Energy