MEGATREND FOCUS
RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES
SCI identifies well-defined macro-economic trends and then attempts to identify the high potential micro-cap companies that will be the beneficiaries of the trend. Here we take a look at probably the most attractive industry at the early stages of a megatrend…Renewable Energy.
Renewable Energy Basics
The United States currently relies heavily on coal, oil, and natural gas for its energy. Fossil fuels are nonrenewable, that is, they draw on finite resources that will eventually dwindle, becoming too expensive or too environmentally damaging to retrieve. In contrast, renewable energy resources—such as wind and solar energy—are constantly replenished and will never run out.
Most renewable energy comes either directly or indirectly from the sun. Sunlight, or solar energy, can be used directly for heating and lighting homes and other buildings, for generating electricity, and for hot water heating, solar cooling, and a variety of commercial and industrial uses.
The sun's heat also drives the winds, whose energy is captured with wind turbines. Then, the winds and the sun's heat cause water to evaporate. When this water vapor turns into rain or snow and flows downhill into rivers or streams, its energy can be captured using hydropower.
Along with the rain and snow, sunlight causes plants to grow. The organic matter that makes up those plants is known as biomass. Biomass can be used to produce electricity, transportation fuels, or chemicals. The use of biomass for any of these purposes is called biomass energy.
Hydrogen also can be found in many organic compounds, as well as water. It's the most abundant element on the Earth. But it doesn't occur naturally as a gas. It's always combined with other elements, such as with oxygen to make water. Once separated from another element, hydrogen can be burned as a fuel or converted into electricity.
Not all renewable energy resources come from the sun. Geothermal energy taps the Earth's internal heat for a variety of uses, including electric power production, and the heating and cooling of buildings. And the energy of the ocean's tides comes from the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun upon the Earth.
In fact, ocean energy comes from a number of sources. In addition to tidal energy, there's the energy of the ocean's waves, which are driven by both the tides and the winds. The sun also warms the surface of the ocean more than the ocean depths, creating a temperature difference that can be used as an energy source. All these forms of ocean energy can be used to produce electricity.
Renewable energy technologies are a lot friendlier to the environment than conventional energy technologies, which rely on fossil fuels. Fossil fuels contribute significantly to many of the environmental problems we face today—greenhouse gases, air pollution, and water and soil contamination—while renewable energy sources contribute very little or not at all.
Greenhouse gases—carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrocarbons, and chlorofluorocarbons—surround the Earth's atmosphere like a clear thermal blanket, allowing the sun's warming rays in and trapping the heat close to the Earth's surface. This natural greenhouse effect keeps the Earth's average surface temperature at about 60°F (33°C). But the increased use of fossil fuels has significantly increased greenhouse gas emissions, particularly carbon dioxide, creating an enhanced greenhouse effect known as global warming. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), carbon dioxide is responsible for one-half to two-thirds of our contribution to global warming. Renewable energy technologies, however, can produce heat and electricity with a very low or no amount of carbon dioxide emissions.
Energy use from fossil fuels is also a primary source of air, water, and soil pollution. Pollutants—such as carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter, and lead—take a dramatic toll on our environment. On the other hand, most renewable energy technologies produce little or no pollution.
Both pollution and global warming pose major health risks to humans. According to the American Lung Association, air pollution contributes to lung disease — including asthma, lung cancer, and respiratory tract infections — and close to 335,000 people in the United States die from it every year. Meanwhile, the long-term effects associated with global warming may be even more devastating. Deaths due to extreme weather could increase, and diseases could have a greater potential to thrive as temperatures rise.
Ultimately, renewable energy technologies could help us break our conventional pattern of energy use to improve the quality of our environment.
More information about renewable energy technologies follows below:
BIOENERGY
Bioenergy technologies use renewable biomass resources to produce an array of energy related products including electricity, liquid, solid, and gaseous fuels, heat, chemicals, and other materials. Bioenergy ranks second (to hydropower) in renewable U.S. primary energy production and accounts for three percent of the primary energy production in the United States.
Biomass (organic matter) can be used to provide heat, make fuels, and generate electricity. This is called bioenergy. Wood, the largest source of bioenergy, has been used to provide heat for thousands of years. But there are many other types of biomass—such as wood, plants, residue from agriculture or forestry, and the organic component of municipal and industrial wastes—that can now be used as an energy source. Today, many bioenergy resources are replenished through the cultivation of energy crops, such as fast-growing trees and grasses, called bioenergy feedstock’s.
Unlike other renewable energy sources, biomass can be converted directly into liquid fuels for our transportation needs. The two most common biofuels are ethanol and biodiesel. Ethanol, an alcohol, is made by fermenting any biomass high in carbohydrates, like corn, through a process similar to brewing beer. It is mostly used as a fuel additive to cut down a vehicle's carbon monoxide and other smog-causing emissions. Biodiesel, an ester, is made using vegetable oils, animal fats, algae, or even recycled cooking greases. It can be used as a diesel additive to reduce vehicle emissions or in its pure form to fuel a vehicle.
Heat can be used to chemically convert biomass into a fuel oil, which can be burned like petroleum to generate electricity. Biomass can also be burned directly to produce steam for electricity production or manufacturing processes. In a power plant, a turbine usually captures the steam, and a generator then converts it into electricity. In the lumber and paper industries, wood scraps are sometimes directly fed into boilers to produce steam for their manufacturing processes or to heat their buildings. Some coal-fired power plants use biomass as a supplementary energy source in high-efficiency boilers to significantly reduce emissions.
Even gas can be produced from biomass for generating electricity. Biomass Gasification systems use high temperatures to convert biomass into a natural gas, or BioMethane. The gas fuels a turbine, which is very much like a jet engine, only it turns an electric generator instead of propelling a jet. The decay of biomass in landfills also produces a BioMethane gas that can be burned in a boiler to produce steam for electricity generation or for industrial processes.
New technology could lead to using biobased chemicals and materials to make products such as anti-freeze, plastics, and personal care items that are now made from petroleum. In some cases these products may be completely biodegradable. While technology to bring biobased chemicals and materials to market is still under development, the potential benefit of these products is great.
Biomass Resources
The term "biomass" means any plant derived organic matter available on a renewable basis, including dedicated energy crops and trees, agricultural food and feed crops, agricultural crop wastes and residues, wood wastes and residues, aquatic plants, animal wastes, municipal wastes, and other waste materials. Handling technologies, collection logistics and infrastructure are important aspects of the biomass resource supply chain.
Bio-power
Biopower technologies are proven electricity generation options in the United States, with 10 gigawatts of installed capacity. All of today's capacity is based on mature direct-combustion technology. Future efficiency improvements will include co-firing of biomass in existing coal fired boilers and the introduction of high-efficiency gasification combined-cycle systems, fuel cell systems, and modular systems.
Bio-fuels
A variety of fuels can be made from biomass resources, including the liquid fuels ethanol, methanol, biodiesel, Fischer-Tropsch diesel, and gaseous fuels such as hydrogen and methane. Biofuels research and development is composed of three main areas: producing the fuels, finding applications and uses of the fuels, and creating a distribution infrastructure.
Bio-based Chemicals and Materials
Bio-based chemicals and materials are commercial or industrial products, other than food and feed, derived from biomass feedstocks. Bio-based products include green chemicals, renewable plastics, natural fibers, and natural structural materials. Many of these products can replace products and materials traditionally derived from petrochemicals, but new and improved processing technologies will be required.
Integrated Bio-energy Systems and Assessments
The economic, social, environmental, and ecological consequences in growing and using biomass are important to understand and consider when addressing technological, market, and policy issues associated with bioenergy systems.
SOLAR ENERGY
Solar technologies use the sun's energy and light to provide heat, light, hot water, electricity, and even cooling, for homes, businesses, and industry.
Sunlight—solar energy—can be used to generate electricity, provide hot water, and to heat, cool, and light buildings.
Photovoltaic (solar cell) systems convert sunlight directly into electricity. A solar or PV cell consists of semiconducting material that absorbs the sunlight. The solar energy knocks electrons loose from their atoms, allowing the electrons to flow through the material to produce electricity. PV cells are typically combined into modules that hold about 40 cells. About 10 of these modules are mounted in PV arrays. PV arrays can be used to generate electricity for a single building or, in large numbers, for a power plant. A power plant can also use a concentrating solar power system, which uses the sun's heat to generate electricity. The sunlight is collected and focused with mirrors to create a high-intensity heat source. This heat source produces steam or mechanical power to run a generator that creates electricity.
Solar water heating systems for buildings have two main parts: a solar collector and a storage tank. Typically, a flat-plate collector—a thin, flat, rectangular box with a transparent cover—is mounted on the roof, facing the sun. The sun heats an absorber plate in the collector, which, in turn, heats the fluid running through tubes within the collector. To move the heated fluid between the collector and the storage tank, a system either uses a pump or gravity, as water has a tendency to naturally circulate as it is heated. Systems that use fluids other than water in the collector's tubes usually heat the water by passing it through a coil of tubing in the tank.
Many large commercial buildings can use solar collectors to provide more than just hot water. Solar process heating systems can be used to heat these buildings. A solar ventilation system can be used in cold climates to preheat air as it enters a building. And the heat from a solar collector can even be used to provide energy for cooling a building.
A solar collector is not always needed when using sunlight to heat a building. Some buildings can be designed for passive solar heating. These buildings usually have large, south-facing windows. Materials that absorb and store the sun's heat can be built into the sunlit floors and walls. The floors and walls will then heat up during the day and slowly release heat at night—a process called direct gain. Many of the passive solar heating design features also provide daylighting. Daylighting is simply the use of natural sunlight to brighten up a building's interior.
Solar Technologies
Photovoltaics (PV)
Photovoltaic solar cells, which directly convert sunlight into electricity, are made of semiconducting materials. The simplest cells power watches and calculators and the like, while more complex systems can light houses and provide power to the electric grid.
Passive Solar Heating, Cooling and Daylighting
Buildings designed for passive solar and daylighting incorporate design features such as large south-facing windows and building materials that absorb and slowly release the sun's heat. No mechanical means are employed in passive solar heating. Incorporating passive solar designs can reduce heating bills as much as 50 percent. Passive solar designs can also include natural ventilation for cooling.
Concentrating Solar Power
Concentrating solar power technologies use reflective materials such as mirrors to concentrate the sun's energy. This concentrated heat energy is then converted into electricity.
Solar Hot Water and Space Heating and Cooling
Solar hot water heaters use the sun to heat either water or a heat-transfer fluid in collectors. A typical system will reduce the need for conventional water heating by about two-thirds. High-temperature solar water heaters can provide energy-efficient hot water and hot water heat for large commercial and industrial facilities.
Issues
Solar Resources
Solar resource information provides data on how much solar energy is available to a collector and how it might vary from month to month, year to year, and location to location. Collecting this information requires a national network of solar radiation monitoring sites.
Solar Access
The availability or access to unobstructed sunlight for use both in passive solar designs and active systems is protected by zoning laws and ordinances in many communities.
Green Power
Consumer demand for clean renewable energy and the deregulation of the utilities industry have spurred growth in green power—solar, wind, geothermal steam, biomass, and small-scale hydroelectric sources of power. Small commercial solar power plants have begun serving some energy markets.
WIND ENERGY
Wind energy uses the energy in the wind for practical purposes like generating electricity, charging batteries, pumping water, or grinding grain. Large, modern wind turbines operate together in wind farms to produce electricity for utilities. Small turbines are used by homeowners and remote villages to help meet energy needs.
Wind turbines capture the wind's energy with two or three propeller-like blades, which are mounted on a rotor, to generate electricity. The turbines sit high atop towers, taking advantage of the stronger and less turbulent wind at 100 feet (30 meters) or more above ground.
A blade acts much like an airplane wing. When the wind blows, a pocket of low-pressure air forms on the downwind side of the blade. The low-pressure air pocket then pulls the blade toward it, causing the rotor to turn. This is called lift. The force of the lift is actually much stronger than the wind's force against the front side of the blade, which is called drag. The combination of lift and drag causes the rotor to spin like a propeller, and the turning shaft spins a generator to make electricity.
Wind turbines can be used as stand-alone applications, or they can be connected to a utility power grid or even combined with a photovoltaic (solar cell) system. Stand-alone turbines are typically used for water pumping or communications. However, homeowners and farmers in windy areas can also use turbines to generate electricity. For utility-scale sources of wind energy, a large number of turbines are usually built close together to form a wind farm. Several electricity providers today use wind farms to supply power to their customers.
Wind Energy Technologies
Modern wind turbines are divided into two major categories: horizontal axis turbines and vertical axis turbines. Old-fashioned windmills are still seen in many rural areas.
Wind Turbine Use
Wind turbines are used around the world for many applications. Wind turbine use ranges from homeowners with single turbines to large wind farms with hundreds of turbines providing electricity to the power grid.
Research
Research advances have helped drop the cost of energy from the wind dramatically during the last 20 years. Research is carried out by research labs, universities, and utility organizations.
Wind Resource
The wind is the fuel source for wind energy. The United States has many areas with abundant winds, particularly in the Midwest and Great Plains. Understanding the wind resource is a crucial step in planning a wind energy project. Detailed knowledge of the wind at a site is needed to estimate the performance of a wind energy project.
Environment
Wind energy is considered a green power technology because it has only minor impacts on the environment. Wind energy plants produce no air pollutants or greenhouse gases. However, any means of energy production impacts the environment in some way, and wind energy is no different.
Economics
The cost of energy from the wind has dropped by 85% during the last 20 years. Incentives like the federal production tax credit and net metering provisions available in some areas improve the economics of wind energy.
HYDROGEN
Hydrogen is the third most abundant element on the earth's surface, where it is found primarily in water (H²O) and organic compounds. It is generally produced from hydrocarbons or water; and when burned as a fuel, or converted to electricity, it joins with oxygen to again form water.
Hydrogen is the simplest element; an atom consists of only one proton and one electron. It is also the most plentiful element in the universe. Despite its simplicity and abundance, hydrogen doesn't occur naturally as a gas on the Earth—it is always combined with other elements. Water, for example, is a combination of hydrogen and oxygen (H²O). Hydrogen is also found in many organic compounds, notably the "hydrocarbons" that make up many of our fuels, such as gasoline, natural gas, methanol, and propane.
Hydrogen can be made by separating it from hydrocarbons by applying heat, a process known as "reforming" hydrogen. Currently, most hydrogen is made this way from natural gas. An electrical current can also be used to separate water into its components of oxygen and hydrogen. Some algae and bacteria, using sunlight as their energy source, even give off hydrogen under certain conditions.
Hydrogen is high in energy, yet an engine that burns pure hydrogen produces almost no pollution. NASA has used liquid hydrogen since the 1970s to propel the space shuttle and other rockets into orbit. Hydrogen fuel cells power the shuttle's electrical systems, producing a clean byproduct—pure water, which the crew drinks. You can think of a fuel cell as a battery that is constantly replenished by adding fuel to it—it never loses its charge.
Fuel cells are a promising technology for use as a source of heat and electricity for buildings, and as an electrical power source for electric vehicles. Although these applications would ideally run off pure hydrogen, in the near term they are likely to be fueled with natural gas, methanol, or even gasoline. Reforming these fuels to create hydrogen will allow the use of much of our current energy infrastructure—gas stations, natural gas pipelines, etc.—while fuel cells are phased in.
In the future, hydrogen could also join electricity as an important energy carrier. An energy carrier stores, moves, and delivers energy in a usable form to consumers. Renewable energy sources, like the sun, can't produce energy all the time. The sun doesn't always shine. But hydrogen can store this energy until it is needed and can be transported to where it is needed.
Some experts think that hydrogen will form the basic energy infrastructure that will power future societies, replacing today's natural gas, oil, coal, and electricity infrastructures. They see a new hydrogen economy to replace our current energy economies, although that vision probably won't happen until far in the future.
Production
Hydrogen is produced from sources such as natural gas, coal, gasoline, methanol, or biomass through the application of heat; from bacteria or algae through photosynthesis; or by using electricity or sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
Transport and Storage
The use of hydrogen as a fuel and energy carrier will require an infrastructure for safe and cost-effective hydrogen transport and storage.
Fuel Cells
Hydrogen's potential use in fuel and energy applications includes powering vehicles, running turbines or fuel cells to produce electricity, and generating heat and electricity for buildings. The current focus is on hydrogen's use in fuel cells.
Safety
Hydrogen has an excellent safety record, and is as safe for transport, storage and use as many other fuels. Nevertheless, safety remains a top priority in all aspects of hydrogen energy. The hydrogen community addresses safety through stringent design and testing of storage and transport concepts, and by developing codes and standards for all types of hydrogen-related equipment.
The Hydrogen Economy
The vision of building an energy infrastructure that uses hydrogen as an energy carrier — a concept called the "hydrogen economy" — is considered the most likely path toward a full commercial application of hydrogen energy technologies.
HYDROPOWER
Hydropower (also called hydroelectric power) facilities in the United States can generate enough power to supply 28 million households with electricity, the equivalent of nearly 500 million barrels of oil. The total U.S. hydropower capacity—including pumped storage facilities—is about 95,000 megawatts. Researchers are working on advanced turbine technologies that will not only help maximize the use of hydropower but also minimize adverse environmental effects.
Flowing water creates energy that can be captured and turned into electricity. This is called hydropower. Hydropower is currently the largest source of renewable power, generating nearly 10% of the electricity used in the United States.
The most common type of hydropower plant uses a dam on a river to store water in a reservoir. Water released from the reservoir flows through a turbine, spinning it, which, in turn, activates a generator to produce electricity. But hydropower doesn't necessarily require a large dam. Some hydropower plants just use a small canal to channel the river water through a turbine.
Another type of hydropower plant—called a pumped storage plant—can even store power. The power is sent from a power grid into the electric generators. The generators then spin the turbines backward, which causes the turbines to pump water from a river or lower reservoir to an upper reservoir, where the power is stored. To use the power, the water is released from the upper reservoir back down into the river or lower reservoir. This spins the turbines forward, activating the generators to produce electricity.
Types of Hydropower
Impoundment
An impoundment facility, typically a large hydropower system, uses a dam to store river water in a reservoir. The water may be released either to meet changing electricity needs or to maintain a constant reservoir level.
Diversion
A diversion, sometimes called run-of-river, facility channels a portion of a river through a canal or penstock. It may not require the use of a dam.
Pumped Storage
When the demand for electricity is low, a pumped storage facility stores energy by pumping water from a lower reservoir to an upper reservoir. During periods of high electrical demand, the water is released back to the lower reservoir to generate electricity.
Sizes of Hydropower Plants
Facilities range in size from large power plants that supply many consumers with electricity to small and micro plants that individuals operate for their own energy needs or to sell power to utilities.
Large Hydropower
Although definitions vary, DOE defines large hydropower as facilities that have a capacity of more than 30 megawatts.
Small Hydropower
Although definitions vary, DOE defines small hydropower as facilities that have a capacity of 0.1 to 30 megawatts.
Micro Hydropower
A micro hydropower plant has a capacity of up to 100 kilowatts (0.1 megawatts).
Turbine Technologies
There are many types of turbines used for hydropower, and they are chosen based on their particular application and the height of standing water—referred to as "head"—available to drive them. The turning part of the turbine is called the runner. The most common turbines are as follows:
Pelton Turbine
A Pelton turbine has one or more jets of water impinging on the buckets of a runner that looks like a water wheel. The Pelton turbines are used for high-head sites (50 feet to 6,000 feet) and can be as large as 200 megawatts.
Francis Turbine
A Francis turbine has a runner with fixed vanes, usually nine or more. The water enters the turbine in a radial direction with respect to the shaft, and is discharged in an axial direction. Francis turbines will operate from 10 feet to 2,000 feet of head and can be as large as 800 megawatts.
Propeller Turbine
A propeller has a runner with three to six fixed blades, like a boat propeller. The water passes through the runner and drives the blades. Propeller turbines can operate from 10 feet to 300 feet of head and can be as large as 100 megawatts. A Kaplan turbine is a type of propeller turbine in which the pitch of the blades can be changed to improve performance. Kaplan turbines can be as large as 400 megawatts.
Environmental Issues and Mitigation
Current hydropower technology, while essentially emission-free, can have undesirable environmental effects, such as fish injury and mortality from passage through turbines, as well as detrimental effects on the quality of downstream water. A variety of mitigation techniques are in use now, and environmentally friendly turbines are under development.
Legal and Institutional Issues
Legal and institutional issues include federal licensing as well as state and local permits, laws for historic and cultural preservation, and recreational requirements.
OCEAN ENERGY
Ocean energy draws on the energy of ocean waves, tides, or on the thermal energy (heat) stored in the ocean.
The ocean contains two types of energy: thermal energy from the sun's heat, and mechanical energy from the tides and waves.
Oceans cover more than 70% of Earth's surface, making them the world's largest solar collectors. The sun warms the surface water a lot more than the deep ocean water, and this temperature difference stores thermal energy. Thermal energy is used for many applications, including electricity generation. There are three types of electricity conversion systems: closed-cycle, open-cycle, and hybrid. Closed-cycle systems use the ocean's warm surface water to vaporize a working fluid, which has a low-boiling point, such as ammonia. The vapor expands and turns a turbine. The turbine then activates a generator to produce electricity. Open-cycle systems actually boil the seawater by operating at low pressures. This produces steam that passes through a turbine/generator. And hybrid systems combine both closed-cycle and open-cycle systems.
Ocean mechanical energy is quite different from ocean thermal energy. Even though the sun affects all ocean activity, tides are driven primarily by the gravitational pull of the moon, and waves are driven primarily by the winds. A barrage (dam) is typically used to convert tidal energy into electricity by forcing the water through turbines, activating a generator. For wave energy conversion, there are three basic systems: channel systems that funnel the waves into reservoirs, float systems that drive hydraulic pumps, and oscillating water column systems that use the waves to compress air within a container. The mechanical power created from these systems either directly activates a generator or transfers to a working fluid, water, or air, which then drives a turbine/generator.
Wave Energy
The total power of waves breaking on the world's coastlines is estimated at 2 to 3 million megawatts. In favorable locations, wave energy density can average 65 megawatts per mile of coastline.
Tidal Energy
Tidal energy traditionally involves erecting a dam across the opening to a tidal basin. The dam includes a sluice that is opened to allow the tide to flow into the basin; the sluice is then closed, and as the sea level drops, traditional hydropower technologies can be used to generate electricity from the elevated water in the basin. Some researchers are also trying to extract energy directly from tidal flow streams.
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) Systems
A great amount of thermal energy (heat) is stored in the world's oceans. Each day, the oceans absorb enough heat from the sun to equal the thermal energy contained in 250 billion barrels of oil. OTEC systems convert this thermal energy into electricity — often while producing desalinated water.
GEOTHERMAL
Geothermal energy technologies use the heat of the earth for direct-use applications, geothermal heat pumps, and electrical power production. Research in all areas of geothermal development is helping to lower costs and expand its use. In the United States, most geothermal resources are concentrated in the West, but geothermal heat pumps can be used nearly anywhere.
Geothermal energy is the heat from the Earth. It's clean and sustainable. Resources of geothermal energy range from the shallow ground to hot water and hot rock found a few miles beneath the Earth's surface, and down even deeper to the extremely high temperatures of molten rock called magma.
Almost everywhere, the shallow ground or upper 10 feet of the Earth's surface maintains a nearly constant temperature between 50° and 60°F (10° and 16°C). Geothermal heat pumps can tap into this resource to heat and cool buildings. A geothermal heat pump system consists of a heat pump, an air delivery system (ductwork), and a heat exchanger—a system of pipes buried in the shallow ground near the building. In the winter, the heat pump removes heat from the heat exchanger and pumps it into the indoor air delivery system. In the summer, the process is reversed, and the heat pump moves heat from the indoor air into the heat exchanger. The heat removed from the indoor air during the summer can also be used to provide a free source of hot water.
In the United States, most geothermal reservoirs of hot water are located in the western states, Alaska, and Hawaii. Wells can be drilled into underground reservoirs for the generation of electricity. Some geothermal power plants use the steam from a reservoir to power a turbine/generator, while others use the hot water to boil a working fluid that vaporizes and then turns a turbine. Hot water near the surface of Earth can be used directly for heat. Direct-use applications include heating buildings, growing plants in greenhouses, drying crops, heating water at fish farms, and several industrial processes such as pasteurizing milk.
Hot dry rock resources occur at depths of 3 to 5 miles everywhere beneath the Earth's surface and at lesser depths in certain areas. Access to these resources involves injecting cold water down one well, circulating it through hot fractured rock, and drawing off the heated water from another well. Currently, there are no commercial applications of this technology. Existing technology also does not yet allow recovery of heat directly from magma, the very deep and most powerful resource of geothermal energy.
Exploration
Geological, geochemical, and geophysical techniques are used to locate geothermal resources.
Drilling
Drilling for geothermal resources has been adapted from the oil industry. Improved drill bits, slimhole drilling, advanced instruments, and other drilling technologies are under development.
Direct Use
Geothermal hot water near the Earth's surface can be used directly for heating buildings and as a heat supply for a variety of commercial and industrial uses. Geothermal direct use is particularly favored for greenhouses and aquaculture.
Geothermal Heat Pumps
Geothermal heat pumps, or ground-source heat pumps, use the relatively constant temperature of soil or surface water as a heat source and sink for a heat pump, which provides heating and cooling for buildings.
Electricity Production
Underground reservoirs of hot water or steam, heated by an upwelling of magma, can be tapped for electrical power production.
Advanced Technologies
Advanced technologies will help manage geothermal resources for maximum power production, improve plant operating efficiencies, and develop new resources such as hot dry rock, geopressured brines, and magma.
Environmental
Geothermal technologies release little or no air emissions. Geothermal power production produces much lower air emissions than conventional energy technologies.
Geothermal Resources
In the United States, geothermal resources are concentrated in the West, although low-temperature resources can also be found in the rest of the country. Geothermal heat pumps can be used nearly anywhere.
Renewable Energy Credits
What is a "Renewable Energy Credit?"
One Renewable Energy Credit or "REC" represents one megawatt hour (MWh) of renewable energy that is physically metered and verified from the generator, or the renewable energy project.
"REC's" are created when a Renewable Energy project is certified and begins producing renewable energy. Renewable energy projects create green power which helps reduce pollution. Renewable Energy Credits are the group of environmental benefits society benefits from in the production of green power. The green-power (electricity) is sold into the local electric grid where the renewable energy project is located. The REC's are sold separately as a commodity into the marketplace.
“In a REC deal, the power from the new renewable energy facility is not physically delivered to the customer, but the environmental benefits created by the facility are attributed to that customer, directly offsetting the environmental impact of the customer’s conventional energy use.” --Bonneville Environmental Foundation
REC Offset - An REC offset represents one megawatt hour (MWh) of renewable energy from an existing facility, which may be used in place of an REC to meet a renewable energy requirement imposed under this section. REC offsets may not be traded.
Renewable Energy Credit (REC or credit) - An REC represents one megawatt hour (MWh) of renewable energy that is physically metered and verified.
Renewable Energy Credit Account (REC account) - An account maintained by the renewable energy credits trading program administrator for the purpose of tracking the production, sale, transfer, purchase, and retirement of RECs by a program participant.
Renewable Energy Credit (trading program) - The process of awarding, trading, tracking, and submitting RECs as a means of meeting the renewable energy requirements.
Renewable Energy Resource - A resource that produces energy derived from renewable energy technologies.
Renewable Energy Technology - Any technology that exclusively relies on an energy source that is naturally regenerated over a short time and derived directly from the sun, indirectly from the sun, or from moving water or other natural movements and mechanisms of the environment. Renewable energy technologies include those that rely on energy derived directly from the sun, on wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, wave, or tidal energy, or on biomass or biomass-based waste products, including landfill gas. A renewable energy technology does not rely on energy resources derived from fossil fuels, or waste products from inorganic sources.
