Energy Resources and Environmental Impact :: Economy Economics Essays

postal code Re origins and Environmental ImpactWe have in our possession, a variety of sinew resources that can be used to replace, some of the more harmful fuels utilised today. Nevertheless, even with all these options we have yet to make a aw ar effort in the upgrading of our current systems of cogency production. Of course this in some ways is tied to politics and economic issues. Yet it is my passionate flavour that these should not over power that which is ultimately more important which is the offbeat of the environment. Why so much interest in the subject you susceptibility ask? Well in truth it stems from the recent class we had on geothermal competency. Out of all the processes weve covered so far this peerless interested me the most. However, when discussed in the classroom I felt that only the peremptory aspects of the procedure were highlighted. Although a beneficiary way of ability production, I was rum to see it repercussions. Because no system is perfect, this one should be no different, on top of that there had to be a reason why it isnt as popular as it should be given its efficiency. As the worlds largest energy resource, geothermal energy can be inexhaustible. The resource is constantly replenished by circulating ground waters, therefore if the fluids are extracted at a sustainable rate, the resource will be available for future generations.Geothermal energy is probably one of the safest and most reliable sources of energy, outside solar energy. It is reliable (the source of heat, the Earth itself, is relatively constant), and hazard, in terms of unwanted waste products or catastrophic accidents, is nonexistent. There are atmospheric emissions from geothermal power plants which are predominantly CO2 and H2S. However, in the context of global climate change, geothermal has significantly lower CO2 emissions than fogy fuels. Atmospheric emissions from geothermal plants medium only about 5% of the emissions from equivalent genera tion sized fossil fuel power plants. The actual drop off use for geothermal energy production is relatively small for both the fuel acquisition and the energy production. The common practice of re-injecting spent geothermal fluids means the impacts on aquatic life have been eliminated. Geothermal plants also co-exist successfully with other devour uses. Adverse environmental impacts of geothermal development may include land subsidence and increased microseismic activity. However such adverse factors need to be balanced against the more obvious advantages of geothermal over fossil fuels.