What is the difference between hydroelectric power and geothermal power

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Answer: Because its source is the almost unlimited amount of heat generated by the Earth's core. Even in geothermal areas dependent on a reservoir of hot water, the volume taken out can be reinjected, making it a sustainable energy source. Answer : Hydrothermal resources - reservoirs of steam or hot water - are available primarily in the western states, Alaska, and Hawaii. However, Earth energy can be tapped almost anywhere with geothermal heat pumps and direct-use applications. Other enormous and world-wide geothermal resources - hot dry rock and magma, for example - are awaiting further technology development.

To see visual representations of geothermal energy sources, visit our maps page. Answer: Geothermal technologies offer many environmental advantages over conventional power generation:. Emissions are low. Only excess steam is emitted by geothermal flash plants. No air emissions or liquids are discharged by binary geothermal plants, which are projected to become the dominant technology in the near future.

Salts and dissolved minerals contained in geothermal fluids are usually reinjected with excess water back into the reservoir at a depth well below groundwater aquifers. This recycles the geothermal water and replenishes the reservoir.

The City of Santa Rosa, California, pipes the city's treated wastewater up to The Geysers power plants to be used for reinjection fluid. This system will prolong the life of the reservoir as it recycles the treated wastewater. Some geothermal plants do produce some solid materials, or sludges, that require disposal in approved sites. Some of these solids are now being extracted for sale zinc, silica, and sulfur, for example , making the resource even more valuable and environmentally friendly.

During winter time, sidewalks are heated and most of the time street lights are on the whole night. Nowadays many houses and businesses are receiving hydroelectric power because of power generators being placed inside dams. There is still economically feasible remains of hydroelectric and geothermal energy that needs to be developed. There is no doubt that an increase in usage of these renewable resources could help our environment in various ways.

Click here for the first post in this series. Click here for the third post in this series. Author: Yasmine Yehia. Click here for the first post in this series Click here for the third post in this series. Canada plans to phase out its coal plants by , while the UK has set a deadline of and Germany is aiming to remove the technology from its electrcity grid by A number of other European countries are expected to following suit soon.

Using diesel as the fuel, this type of power plant is used for small-scale production of electric power. They are installed in places where there is no easy availability of alternative power sources and are mainly used as a backup for uninterrupted power supply whenever there are outages. Diesel plants require only a small area to be installed and offer higher thermal efficiency compared to coal-fired power plants. Due to high maintenance costs and diesel prices, the power plants have not gained popularity at the same rate as other types of power generation plants such as steam and hydro.

The three main types of geothermal plants include dry steam power stations, flash steam power stations and binary cycle power stations, all of which use steam turbines to produce electricity. The installed capacity of geothermal energy has gradually increased worldwide over the past decade, up from just short of 10 GW in to almost 14 GW in Geothermal power plants are considered to be environmentally friendly and emit lower levels of harmful gases compared with coal-fired power plants.

A gas-fired power plants burns natural gas — a rapidly growing energy source across the world — to generate electricity. Although natural gas is a fossil fuel, the emissions produced from its combustion are much lower than those from coal or oil, according to a study by the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Another type of plant that uses gas is a combined-cycle power plant. Using both gas and steam turbines, they produce higher amounts of electricity from a single fuel source compared to a traditional power plant. They capture heat from the gas turbine to increase power production and are also found to release low amounts of harmful gases into the atmosphere.

Solar energy plants convert energy from the sun into thermal or electrical energy using one of the cleanest and most abundant renewable energy sources.