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Lava lamps never looked so good
12th July 2008
Alaska could get a quarter of it's electricity from geothermal-driven turbines
They’re one of the deadliest forces of nature, but the heat from volcanoes could supply one of the cleanest energy sources on the planet.
The idea of tapping into geothermal energy, using heat from the earth, is being promoted by Alaska’s Division of Oil and Gas, which will begin selling leases on land on state volcanoes in August to energy companies. It’s predicted that underground heat could eventually provide a quarter of the state’s energy needs.
Geothermal heating systems have been in use for more than a century, starting in Lardarello, Italy, in 1904. Iceland gets more than 80 per cent of its heating this way and generates about a quarter of its electricity from geothermal-driven turbines.
The Bureau of Land Management in the U.S. says 12 states could be tapped for sizable sources of geothermal energy, but industry experts say many more sources may yet be discovered.
In Canada, a commercial geothermal electricity source is being built at Mount Meager, B.C., but homeowners anywhere can tap into the earth with a small residential heating system, available from commercial suppliers – sweetened in some provinces with grants or loans for retrofits.
Published in The Green Report in The Globe and Mail
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