by L.B. Woodgate

Created on: August 11, 2010

One of the best sources of green technology information and their impact on climate change is the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC).  According to the NRDC “geothermal energy, which taps into reservoirs of steam and hot water beneath the earth's surface, is among the least explored sources of renewable energy in the United States. In 2005, geothermal energy produced just 0.36 percent of the electricity used in this country, about 3,000 megawatts of energy.”  The potential for geothermal development as an energy source could provide as much as 100,000 megawatts of power by 2025 according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

So what are the drawbacks to utilizing our vast reservoirs of geothermal energy?

Geothermal power works very much like the steam engines of old that most of us are familiar with.  Heat up a boiler tank of water and the pressure built up will be released as energy that then by design can move mechanical parts to serve various tasks.  But unlike steam engines utilizing bio-mass materials to create the heat for steam power, geothermal sources are stationary and the means to move the force of that energy to areas that need to be served will require a large investment up front.  The return on this economic expense will be quickly gained but once these initial costs are sourced the environmental concerns that geothermal energy creates needs to be dealt with.

Most geothermal sources in America are in our Western States.  They happen to reside in what are also some of our most beautiful and pristine habitats that are protected by law, like Yellowstone National Park and the Cascade Mountains.  Extracting this source of energy from certain sensitive sites would not only draw public opposition but risks harming these protected areas permanently.  Thus any compromise that governments and entrepreneurs create to develop geothermal power supplies in these areas must work through the delicate issues of preserving habitats centuries old and the rare species that dwell there. 

Costs will be affected by plant site locations in order to avoid distracting from or damaging the ecosystems where efforts are made to gain the greatest access and benefit from geothermal reservoirs.  Transmission lines will have to be planned to avoid similar ecological destruction as they carry this power source from the generator station to the distribution sources.  Further environmental damage can

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