On Wednesday the U.S. Department of the Interior announced a plan to open 190 million acres of federal lands to companies seeking to develop geothermal energy production plants.

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The lands that will be opened are in Alaska and 11 western states. It is believed that the geothermal energy in time could provide electricity to 5.5 million homes.

Secretary of the Interior Dick Kempthorne said the following about the plan: “Geothermal energy will play a key role in powering America’s energy future… and 90 percent of our nation’s geothermal resources are found on federal lands.” Much of the land that will be opened is managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service. Places of great geothermal significance and public appeal like Yellowstone National Park will not be utilized.

Lands would be leased under the plan. Revenues from the leases and the profits of the companies that produce geothermal energy would be shared by the companies, the federal government, and the counties and states where the plants are located. The U.S. Congress recently passed tax breaks to entice more companies to invest in the development of geothermal energy sources, as well as other alternative energy possibilities.

While geothermal energy is not as well known (i.e. sexy) to the public as are wind and solar power, it probably deserves more attention as part of the new alternative energy craze. (For instance, if you weren’t aware, both Google and Oregon Tech are notable early adopters). With a plan to open public lands to more geothermal development, you can bet that some people are going to have concerns and want more information– just as they did when the BLM announced earlier this year that it would examine the possibility of large scale development of solar power on some of the lands it manages. For the uninitiated, here’s a brief summary about the basics of geothermal energy.

A Quick Geothermal Energy Primer

The Environment News Service provides the following introduction to geothermal energy:

Geothermal resources range from heat found just under the ground to hot water and rock miles below the Earth’s surface. Wells over a mile deep can be drilled into underground reservoirs to tap steam and very hot water that can be brought to the surface to generate electricity.

There are environmental concerns around geothermal energy. Dry steam and flash steam power plants emit low levels of carbon dioxide, nitric oxide, and sulphur, although at roughly five percent of the levels emitted by fossil fuel power plants.

To resolve these concerns, geothermal plants can be built with systems that can inject these substances back into the Earth, reducing carbon emissions to less than 0.1 percent of those from fossil fuel power plants.

Hot water from geothermal sources will contain trace amounts of toxics such as mercury and arsenic, which if discharged into rivers can make the water unsafe to drink.

To protect special resource values, the plan announced today identifies a comprehensive list of stipulations, conditions of approval and best management practices required for approval of future geothermal leases.

You can also read Wikipedia’s informative entry on the subject. Some of the advantages it mentions to geothermal energy include the small amount of greenhouse emissions it makes during production and use, its ability to be obtained without use of other kinds of fuel, and its ability to be harvested 24 hours a day regardless of weather conditions.

Over 20 Countries in the World Currently Produce Geothermal Energy

Among these geothermal energy producing nations, some of the most noteworthy include Iceland, the United States, and the Caribbean island nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis.

Iceland is perhaps the best known of geothermal producing nations. Perhaps it’s the country’s name that make people think of its steamy (and potentially relaxing) geothermal charms more often than they do for places in milder climates (an Icelandic friend of mine actually tells me that Iceland and Greenland should swap names ironically). Of course, maybe it’s also that Iceland gets around 25% of its entire electricity from geothermal power, and also uses it to heat buildings and provide hot running water to its citizens.

The United States, while having a much smaller percentage of geothermal power in its energy mix, is nonetheless the largest producer of geothermal energy in the world. An area 72 miles north of San Francisco, California known as “the Geysers” is the world’s current champion of geothermal energy production. As the U.S. has a lot of production, and Iceland has a lot of application know-how, they have recently joined forces to share knowledge about geothermal energy, along with Australia.

Perhaps they should also partner with the island nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis. Construction has commenced on a new geothermal plant on the hot spring-laden island of Nevis. The facility will eventually provide 50 MW of electricity. This sum will help the nation to meet all of its energy needs, and will make it one of the least fossil fuel dependent countries in the world.

Photo Credit: magical-world on Flickr under a Creative Commons license