Questionnaire and Interview Session

QUESTIONNAIRES

Q1 What do you understand about geothermal energy?

Q2 What are benefits of using geothermal energy?

Q3 Where is geothermal energy available?

Q4 What do you think about geothermal energy implemented in Malaysia?

Q5 How does cost of generation from geothermal power plant compare with other sources of electricity?

Q6 In future, there will be more powerful technology created will produce high electricity demands in the world. In your word, can you suggest how to improve and enhance the geothermal energy system for the future?

Q7 In environmental considerations, what do you think of environmental effect by geothermal power plant? And how to overcome this problem?

INTERVIEW SESSION

Part 1

Part 2

Comments:

Based on the interview session with the lecturer there was a lot of information that has been collected regarding the geothermal energy. Lecturer give a good cooperation and has a good understanding about this topic. The discussion that was cover with the lecturer are related to the introduction of geothermal and the contribution of this energy to the country. All the ideas that has been gather during interview session was put into this blog for a review and get better understanding. Besides that, the lecturer provide a video regarding the process of geothermal energy. So, it is easy for us to gain a fully knowledge of this type of energy and share the ideas with other students for the learning purposes.

Application and Pros & Contras on Geothermal Energy

APPLICATIONS 

Industrial processes

Most of New Zealand’s geothermal energy goes to produce electricity, but it can be used for any processes where heat is required. The main non-electrical user is the Tasman Pulp and Paper Mill at Kawerau, which was built in 1957 and deliberately sited to take advantage of the underlying geothermal field. The heat is used for digesting wood pulp, drying timber and paper, and generating electricity.

Geothermal prawn farming

The world’s only geothermally heated prawn farm was established in 1987 on the banks of the Waikato River, next to the Wairākei power station. The first prawns were imported from Malaysia in 1988, and by 2005 the 5.8-hectare farm was producing about 20 tonnes per year. The farm heats its own water with heat exchangers, which draw heat from the power station’s waste water before it flows back into the Waikato River.

This is a good example of what is known as ‘cascade use’, where geothermal heat has a function past its primary purpose. Cascading improves the overall efficiency of a resource by using its waste products. In the case of the prawn farm, cascading also reduces the discharge of hot water into the river, where it can harm aquatic life.

Horticulture

Geothermal waters are used for heating greenhouses on a small scale (covering 10 hectares in total), especially for the commercial, out-of-season production of vegetables, flowers and fruit. This includes a large greenhouse (0.8 hectares) for growing orchids for export, and another set up to grow capsicums with heat from the Kawerau geothermal field.

Geothermal Energy in Infrastructure & Electricity

Geothermal energy is also used to heat sidewalks and roads in order to prevent freezing in the winter. Most recently, the Netherlands began using geothermal energy to keep bike lanes from freezing in the wintertime, for instance.

 Electricity Generator

§  Flashed Steam Plants — The water “flash” boils and the steam is used to turn turbines.

§  Dry Steam Plants — These plants rely on the natural steam that comes from the underground reservoirs to generate electricity.

§  Binary Power Plants — These plants use the water to heat a “secondary liquid” which vaporizes and turns the turbines. The vaporized liquid is then condensed and reused.

§  Hybrid Power Plants — In these plants, binary and flash techniques are utilized simultaneously.

PROS AND CONTRAS

Pros

Sustainable and Renewable

-The hot water we use will be replaced by rain.

-The heat inside the earth will always be there.

-More heat is made every day in the Earth’s core.

-Independent of weather.

* Hence The heat from within Earth is in no danger of running out.

Geothermal Energy is Cheap

-Geothermal energy is cheap – new power plants can make electricity for

  about the same as coal power plants.

Geothermal Energy is Clean

- No fuel is burned, so there is no air pollution.

- The steam is turned into water and put back into the earth.

Contras 

·         Not widespread source of energy.

·         —High installation costs.

·         —Water can be corrosive to plant pipes, equipment

o    If water not replaced back into reservoir, subsidence can occur.

·         —Some high mineral / metal wastewater and solid waste is produced.

·         —Smelly gasses – H₂S, Ammonia, Boron.

·         —Release of steam and hot water can be noisy. 

Geothermal Energy Implementation in Malaysia

      Geothermal energy however has been studied to be implemented in Malaysia. Thought out proper research by a company called Tawau Green Energy Sdn Bhd located at sabah , A potential place for harvesting geothermal energy has been found. Thus it can be sure that the plant later on are the first malaysia geothermal plant. 

 An Article From a Newspaper 

Common Process of Geothermal Energy

Process of Harvesting Geothermal Energy 

•  Hot rocks underground heat the water to produce steam. 
• We drill holes down to the hot region, steam comes up, is purified and used to drive turbines, which drive electric generators. 
• There may be natural "groundwater" in the  hot rocks anyway, or we may need to drill  more holes and pump water down to them.
• Water is pumped down an "injection well", filters  through the cracks in the rocks in the hot region,  and comes back up the "recovery well" under  pressure. It "flashes" into steam when it reaches  the surface. 
• The steam may be used to drive a turbogenerator, or passed through a heat exchanger to heat water to warm houses. A town in Iceland is heated this way. 
• The steam must be purified before it is used to drive a turbine, or the turbine blades will get "furred up" like your kettle and be ruined.

Geothermal Power Plant 

Sources of Geothermal Energy

WHERE IS GEOTHERMAL ENERGY FOUND?

         Most geothermal reservoirs are deep underground with no visible clues showing above ground. Geothermal energy can sometimes find its way to the surface in the form of: 

• volcanoes and fumaroles (holes where volcanic gases are released) 
• hot springs and 
• geysers. 

The most active geothermal resources are usually found along major plate boundaries where earthquakes and volcanoes are concentrated. Most of the geothermal activity in the world occurs in an area called the Ring of Fire. This area rims the Pacific Ocean.

           When magma comes close to the surface it heats ground water found trapped in porous rock or water running along fractured rock surfaces and faults. Such hydrothermal resources have two common ingredients: water (hydro) and heat (thermal). Naturally occurring large areas of hydrothermal resources are called geothermal reservoirs. Geologists use different methods to look for geothermal reservoirs. Drilling a well and testing the temperature deep underground is the only way to be sure a geothermal reservoir really exists. Most of the geothermal reservoirs in the United States are located in the western states, Alaska, and Hawaii. California is the state that generates the most electricity from geothermal energy. The Geysers dry steam reservoir in northern California is the largest known dry steam field in the world. The field has been producing electricity since 1960.

Brief Explanation of Geothermal Energy

 WHAT IS GEOTHERMAL ENERGY  ?

         The word geothermal comes from the Greek words geo (earth) and therme (heat). So, geothermal energy is heat from within the earth. We can use the steam and hot water produced inside the earth to heat buildings or generate electricity. Geothermal energy is a renewable energy source because the water is replenished by rainfall and the heat is continuously produced inside the earth.

ENERGY INSIDE THE EARTH

Geothermal energy is generated in the earth's core, about 4,000 miles below the surface. Temperatures hotter than the sun's surface are continuously produced inside the earth by the slow decay of radioactive particles, a process that happens in all rocks. The earth has a number of different layers.

     The core itself has two layers: a solid iron core and an outer core made of very hot melted rock, called magma. The mantle which surrounds the core and is about 1,800 miles thick. It is made up of magma and rock. The crust is the outermost layer of the earth, the land that forms the continents and ocean floors. It can be three to five miles thick under the oceans and 15 to 35 miles thick on the continents. The earth's crust is broken into pieces called plates. Magma comes close to the earth's surface near the edges of these plates. This is where volcanoes occur. The lava that erupts from volcanoes is partly magma. Deep underground, the rocks and water absorb the heat from this magma. The temperature of the rocks and water get hotter and hotter as you go deeper underground.