Geothermal Energy Systems

1. What is the name of the molten rock material below the Earth’s crust? Why is the Earth hot anyway at these depths and below?
2. Why are there no geothermal power plants in Ohio? Describe what technological advances would be needed to construct a geothermal power plant in Ohio.
3. Describe what is meant by cascading a geothermal resource. Give your ideas on how a geothermal resource at 150°C could be optimally cascaded.
4. The Geysers Geothermal field is located in California, and is the largest in the world.
Explain why the steam pressures declined and what has been done to mitigate this decline.
What might be done to avoid the same issue in future steam geothermal reservoirs?
5. What is meant by the term “Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS)”? Describe two barriers to further development of EGS.
6. It is reported that an area has a geothermal gradient of 50°C/km. If the average surface temperature is 10°C, what is the estimated Earth temperature at 3,000 m?
7. Conduct a web search to find an example of a combined geothermal heat and power plant, aside from those described by Lund and Chiasson (2007). Describe the uses of the resource, the reservoir temperature and flow rate.
8. What is meant by direct use geothermal? Give three examples of direct use geothermal in the United States, and the location of each.
9. What is meant by the term “binary” geothermal power plant? Give an example anywhere in the world of a currently-operating binary geothermal power plant.
10. List three types of Earth-coupling configurations for geothermal heat pumps.

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1. The molten rock material below the earth’s crust is known as Magma.
There are several reasons explaining the heat energy at these depths and below. They are as follows, the heat obtained when the planet is formed and accreted is still existing in this layer, the frictional heating caused by the denser core material sinking to the center of the planet, Also the decay of the radio- active materials continuously emit thermal energy. All of these reasons explains the reasons for the earth to be hot at these layers....