Production of geothermal electricity is cheap and clean

A recent study published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, USA) shows that harnessing electricity from the earth's heat can help solve the country's growing electricity demand.

A geothermal power plant in the Philippines (Photo: wikipedia)

This geothermal solution is also considered to be more environmentally friendly, helping to reduce production costs and enhance energy security, replacing old nuclear power plants and coal-fired power plants.

According to the study, in the beginning, the United States could produce up to 100,000 megawatts, enough to power about 25 million households in 50 years at a cost of about $ 40 million per year. The initial cost for the project only takes about 0.8-1 billion USD, equivalent to building a coal-fired power plant.

Geothermal plants only take heat from the earth, not fuel, so they are much cleaner than other power plants.

Geothermal, produced by using underground heat from deep bore wells to heat water and take steam to run turbines, is tending to thrive as prices of fuels such as oil and gas is more expensive.

MIT's research shows that underground electricity production can be applied on a large scale, not just on a small scale as previously thought. Jefferson Tester, a professor at MIT, said: 'This is probably the biggest source of energy that is still of little interest.'

According to the country's Geothermal Energy Association, the US currently has about 61 geothermal projects about to be deployed with an estimated capacity of more than 5,000 megawatts.

A geothermal power plant (Photo: aber.ac.uk)

THANH TUAN