Climate Change & A Geothermal Future
Climate change has had an enormous impact on our planet and is continuing to affect our earth daily. While climate science is fairly complicated; the majority of the world’s climate scientists are in agreement that carbon emissions are changing the climate in ways that are changing global temperatures. In 2019 alone, the world has released around 37 billion tons more. That’s 50% more than the world emissions in the year 2000 and almost three times emissions as much as 50 years ago. As we look into the future, the world’s population, according to the World Bank, will reach 10 billion by 2050. These projections mean that the world’s energy consumption is only going to be higher and consequently carbon emissions will keep rising despite the need to be reduced to zero. One promising solution that can help meet the world’s growing energy needs while having low emissions is Geothermal Energy.
Geothermal energy is thermal energy that is stored in the deep layers of the earth. The earth’s core is believed to be made of molten iron, and the heat from this molten core dissipates towards the outer solid crust. This heat can then be extracted from deep earth and be used to heat water to produce steam that spins a turbine to produce renewable low carbon electricity. One advantage to geothermal is that it is capable of producing reliable and secure renewable electricity that contributes to…