Never in the history of the world (and presidential elections) has so much been said about energy, where it comes from, how we, as Americans can generate our own, how it can be used and what the future holds in store for alternative forms of it.

An 18-member panel at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) released a study in 2007 entitled, The Future of Geothermal Energy; Impact of Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) on the United States in the 21st Century, the first study in 30 years to explore the largely ignored concept of geothermal energy.

If you’ve ever been to Yellowstone National Park or viewed photos of the Old Faithful geyser, you already know a little about geothermal energy. It’s the reserve of heat stored deep within the earth’s crust. The great thing about it is that mining this energy could meet a significant portion of the United States' future energy needs, at competitive prices and with minimal environmental impact.

So that you don’t have to read this 400-page report, we’ll give you the laymen’s version. Although our country is the world's largest commercial producer of geothermal energy, existing U.S. plants tend to be located in remote regions of the west, where the hot rocks are closer to the surface and less drilling is required. But scientists now want to know how feasible and economically viable it would be to use enhanced geothermal system (EGS) technology to recover geothermal energy on a much larger scale.

According to the report, EGS technology has already been proven to work in the few areas where underground heat has been successfully extracted. And further technological improvements are on the horizon.

To put it simply, geothermal energy is mined by drilling wells to reach the hot rock of the Earth's crust. These wells are connected to a fractured rock region through which water can flow, which creates a heat-exchange capable of producing more hot water or steam than you can even conceive. This hot water powers up electric generators at the surface. But here’s the unique thing about it: unlike conventional fossil-fuel power plants that burn coal, natural gas, or oil, these generators don't need ANY fuel. In addition, they’re not limited to the same constraints as wind- and solar-based systems. To top it all off, EGS is a potentially non-interruptible source of electric power.

Scientists also concluded that the environmental impacts of geothermal development are markedly lower than conventional fossil-fuel and nuclear power plants, due to low emissions. If you couple that with the small overall “footprint” of the entire geothermal system (contained entirely underground), as well as the surface equipment needed for conversion to electricity, you’ve got a truly winning combination.

So what obstacles may exist to this new/old form of energy? One is the availability of water in arid regions and another is potential seismic risk. For that reason, the study recommended more detailed assessments of various sites, as well as field trials.

Locating geothermal resources is accomplished by geological, geochemical, and geophysical techniques with drilling methods adapted from the oil industry and the use of surface-close hot water, which even now can be used for heating commercial and industrial buildings. The direct use of geothermal hot water is particularly favored for greenhouse and aquaculture use. Electricity production relies on underground reservoirs of hot water or steam, heated by upwelling of magma. These technologies release little or no air emissions, a vast difference from emissions produced by conventional energy sources.

As the new millennium began, the DOE announced the creation of dozens of partnerships between private industry and the DOE to develop and support the development of geothermal energy throughout the western United States. The projects are designed to expand production and use energy generated from geothermal heat to millions of homes and businesses in California, Nevada, and Utah. The goal is to supply a full 10% of the West's energy needs with the use of geothermal resources by the year 2020.

One such producer of geothermal energy, Calpine Corporation, showcases the production of electricity using geothermal steam at their $2.5 million Geothermal Visitor Center in Middletown, Calif. The 6,050 square foot center is designed with state-or-the-art energy efficiency methods, utilizing a geothermal heat pump for both heating and cooling.

Calpine, based in San Jose and in existence since 1984, began offers free public tours of its power plants while the source of this geothermal power at The Geysers has been producing commercial power for the past 40 years.

As we mentioned. the “footprint” for geothermal power plants is easy on the land. Smaller per megawatt than for almost every other type of power plant, geothermal installations don't require damming of rivers or harvesting of forests -- and there are no mine shafts, tunnels, open pits, waste heaps or oil spills.

The plants are designed to run 24 hours a day and are resistant to interruptions of power generation due to weather, natural disasters or the political consequences of using foreign sources of energy in our already crisis-ridden energy atmosphere. In other words, no dollars need change hands to import fuel for geothermal power plants, so there will never be any fuel price-shocks.

The first geothermally-generated electricity in the world was produced at Larderello, Italy in 1904. Since then it has grown worldwide to twenty-one countries around the world. Yesterday Google announced that it was getting into the geothermal power game, investing over $10 million into researching Enhanced Geothermal Systems. It is estimated that using this technology, just 2% of the heat below North America would easily supply all of the United States’ current energy needs.

Reports now show a large geothermal potential in Australia: An Australian government scientist told Reuters that 1% of the nation’s untapped geothermal potential could create enough energy for 26,000 years. Currently Australia generates about 77% of its electricity from coal and is the world’s largest per-capita carbon emitter, with individual emissions being five times those of China.

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