This California geothermal power plant is one method of using heat from the Earth.

Use a banking analogy for the untapped and clean geothermal energy our planet provides to find we live on top of a remarkable energy safe deposit vault.

In 2008, geothermal power supplied less than one percent of the world’s energy. However by 2050 it is anticipated that geothermal power will meet between 10 and 20 percent of the world’s energy requirements, notes a report from Renewable Energy World.

Colorado engineer and geothermal innovator Merline Van Dyke says here are many different kinds of geothermal systems, some that rely on hot water from beneath the earth’s surface, others that simply use the constant temperature of soil below the surface as a means of heating and cooling.

“What I’m interested in talking about are the efficient ones,” says Van Dyke. He began experimenting with making homes more efficient in 1994, building a home in the foothills west of Denver, using structural insulated panels.

Van Dyke is presently working with Sims Construction, a Denver builder, as they finish a three-story, 2,400 square-foot geothermal house that uses structural concrete insulated panels (SCIP) on the exterior to maintain efficient temperatures. Net result: R-40 insulation value, an electricity bill that will run half of a normal bill, and no need for natural gas.

Source: Amasond

The house is located in central Denver and features an Amasond geothermal system. Amasond, an Austrian-based company, provided a geothermal system where pipe was drilled to a non-water level of 118 feet, where the earth temperature was a constant 52 degrees Fahrenheit.  This past summer, Sims flew to Europe to participate in an Amasond training program.

“I am very excited about how efficient this home is going to be,” he says, noting this is the first home of this kind to be built in Denver.

Understanding Geothermal Basics

Geothermal energy – or heat from the Earth – has been used in a variety of ways since the early annals of human life on this planet. Perhaps best, in this day and age, most geothermal energy is clean and sustainable, depending on what procedures are used. Hydraulic fracturing of rock below the surface, a procedure used in oil and natural gas capture, is being explored as a way to obtain hot water, but the environmental impacts to this procedure are being questioned by some. 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.

Merline Van Dyke and Richard Sims in front of Denver geothermal house using structural concrete insulated panels

A geothermal heat pump system consists of a heat pump, an air delivery system (ductwork), and a system of pipes buried in the ground near the building (see photo). 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.

The Department of Energy, working with the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) in Golden, CO undertakes ongoing research to develop and advance technologies for various geothermal applications.

Geothermal heat pumps use much less energy than conventional heating systems, since they draw heat from the ground. They are also more efficient when cooling your home. Not only does this save energy and money, it reduces air pollution. The GEO Exchange http://www.geoexchange.org/ is a trade association for geothermal heat pumps, an integral part of any geothermal system.

In modern direct-use systems, a well is drilled into a geothermal reservoir to provide a steady stream of hot water. The water is brought up through the well, and a mechanical system – piping, a heat exchanger, and controls – delivers the heat directly for its intended use. A disposal system then either injects the cooled water underground or disposes of it on the surface.

Geothermal Electricity

In 1911, the world’s first geothermal power plant had a capacity of 250 kilowatts. By 1975 the Larderello fields were capable of producing 405 megawatts of power. It was the world’s only industrial producer of geothermal electricity until 1958, when New Zealand built a plant in Wairakei. The Geysers Resort Hotel, California, was the site of the first geothermal power plant in the United States. The Geysers currently produces over 750 Megawatts of power annually.

Today, 69 geothermal power facilities are in operation at 18 sites around the United States, and geothermal power is generated in over 20 countries around the world.

Gary Mazzotta's Park Spark Project in Cambridge, MA uses dog waste to feed this anaerobic digester that produces methane to burn the gas lamp. Photo: Park Spark Project

Times change, thankfully. Instead of thinking first about how to get rid of waste, more people are now asking how they might put parts of the waste stream to use.

Some landfills now capture methane to power massive generators that feed electricity to the grid; a California company makes biodegradable plastic from organic waste without using petroleum. The list of companies and people involved in promising and innovative work continues to grow.

Dog poop is now on the list of viable new materials from that can be harvested and used from the waste stream. Last year in Cambridge, MA, conceptual artist Matthew Mazzotta launched the Park Spark Project, using dog feces to power lampposts in a park.

Mazzotta’s Park Spark Project was funded through MIT and created in partnership with the City of Cambridge. Methane, a common greenhouse gas, is created in a methane digester that converts freshly scooped poop into burnable fuel.

Dog owners collect dog droppings in biodegradable bags, then toss the mess into the digester –- a closed cylindrical container, where the dog feces are broken down by anaerobic bacteria. This process creates methane that is then released through a valve and burned to power an old-fashioned gas-burning lamppost in a park.

Mazzotta has said he hopes to install permanent underground digesters in parks, not only in Cambridge, but also throughout the country.

Mini bio-gas digester is available at E2Conserve for $420. Photo: E2Conserve

Plenty of other organic materials can be fed to this type of digester, including other animal waste, plus food and plant matter. The digester’s products include fertilizer – as any good gardener should know – and methane – a standard greenhouse gas that can be tamed when it is burned as a fuel.

Companies like E2Conserve now manufacture and sell small digesters at affordable prices, opening the doors for experimentation and community involvement similar to the Park Spark Project. Access to biotech tools like this is positive news for schools, garden clubs and small farms – even neighborhoods wishing to participate in problem-solving projects.

E2Conserve manufactures small scale biogas digesters priced at $420. According to the company, its 35 cubic-foot methane digester can handle farm waste from poultry, cattle, pigs, horses, up to 66 pounds a day. It also handles food waste, leaves, twigs and shredded waste.

The company lists these benefits:

1. For farm and plant wastes up to 66 lb/day and kitchen wastes up to 17 lb/day
2. Methane/biogas (can be used for cooking/heating) – 35ft3 (1 m3)
3. Electricity – up to 5 Kwh equivalent/day (requires additional generator)
4. Organic fertilizer/manure – up to 6.61 lb/day
5. A very neat and cheap way to solve your waste management problem
6. Free methane gas for cooking and heating
7. The digested slurry from the Mini Biogas digester is an excellent organic fertilizer and soil conditioner
8. An activity to reduce greenhouse gas generation.

With the world economy still reeling from an abundance of gloomy economic news, the digester business could be a very sweet place to be working, for many good reasons.

“U.S. companies are getting squeezed out of the big Chinese wind-power market even as Dallas investors are bringing Chinese firms here via a big wind farm in Texas, according to a new industry report.

““They’ve used every measure you could possibly think of to enhance production of renewable energy equipment in China,” said report author Alan Wolff of the trade law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP.

“U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk won a pledge from the Chinese last fall to drop rules giving preference to Chinese makers of wind-power equipment. But Kirk’s office hasn’t seen any evidence that the pledge has been carried out, said spokeswoman Carol Guthrie.

“Meanwhile, Chinese manufacturers are entering the U.S. wind market under a joint venture led by Dallas investor Cappy McGarr.

“McGarr’s U.S. Renewable Energy Group, with Cielo Wind Power LP of Austin and China’s Shenyang Power Group, is planning a $1.5 billion, 600-megawatt wind farm on 36,000 acres in West Texas.

“Dewey & LeBoeuf’s report on China’s renewable energy equipment market was done for a U.S. industry group, the National Foreign Trade Council, where concern about China’s market restrictions and treatment of foreign firms is growing.”

“I am issuing a challenge for the year 2010: Build out a 100 acre turnkey algae production facility (growing, harvesting and extraction) without any local, state or federal grant funds.”

Mr. Cohen’s greeting to all for the beginning of 2010 is well worth reading, especially by all who want to see alternative fuels gain more solid footing on the American (and world) energy charts.

The accounting of his challenge ias worth the read:

“When this (American oil production) all started in 1859, nobody had all of the answers. 150 years later, the oil industry is still looking for answers. A 100 acre turn-key commercial-scale algae production facility will allow algae producers to look at real commercial algae production and operations as well as economies of scale issues. It will give algae researchers a much better understanding of commercial-scale algae production issues to work on as opposed to small raceway ponds and desk-top lab photobioreactors. It is, at this point, useless to continue to fund algae research without seriously funding commercial-scale algae production farms. As some have already learned, intellectual properties have no practical use if there is not an industry to use them. In order to create any value in existing algae technologies, we must have commercial-scale algae production facilities that can use them!

“Commercial-scale algae production is key to our industry and is one solution that helps to reduce dependence on foreign oil, to create new jobs and reduce CO2 emissions. The NAA challenges the algae industry to build a 100 acre commercial-scale algae production plant without any local, state or federal grants – this will be the true test of algae production farming and algaepreneurism at its finest!

“I would like to see the first 50 acres of production with proven benchmarked results – totally designed, developed and put into production without a single dollar of government money. The next 50 acres can be improved by making minor changes based on what was learned from the first 50 acres. I know it can be done, and you know it can be done – it´s time to do it!”

The entire document can be read at the association’s website .

Windpipe developer, John Tuttle Photo: http://windpipenews.com

The dramatic vista of noisy wind farms featuring towers that go the length of a football field will soon change, if John R. Tuttle has any say about the matter. “We’re nearing the end of that road,” says this engineer and inventor, who has multiple patents pending for his direct conversion wind-to-electricity system known as the Windpipe.

The most remarkable detail about this simple mechanism is that has no visible moving parts – only a hollow pipe with a configured nozzle that draws wind down its length, then converting it to electricity. The Windpipe requires no propellers, turbines, or rotating machinery. And unlike numerous propeller-driven towers, does not stop generating electricity when the wind velocity reaches higher than 55 miles per hour.

Contemporary wind towers in operation Photo: National Center for Renewable Energy

If all components involved in redrafting part of this wind energy infrastructure come into place, the landscape of the wind-to-energy business may go through a dramatic transformation.  It stands to reason why this mechanism has generated such interest. As such, Mr. Tuttle and his team have attracted attention from some leading venture capital firms – unnamed here for reasons of due diligence.

Unlike the traditional vertical tower that features three blades, Tuttle’s system is horizontal. To visualize, each component – virtually a long box containing a long, hollow tube – measures eight feet by eight feet square and runs a length of 40 feet. The size is similar to that of a shipping container, a practical detail when the systems is installed at a remote location.

“Our concept is that you can build that array on site,” says Tuttle. The array he mentions can be constructed in a stackable fashion, one container on top of another, and laterally, as well.

When first-phase funding is in place to build the first demonstration Windpipe system, Tuttle believes it will probably be constructed at the Golden, CO-based National Center for Renewable Energy test farm.

Tuttle is mum on exactly how a windpipe works, other than to state the pipe converts vibrations into electrical energy, adding the unequivocal formula, “energy is equal to velocity cubed.” There is a certain promise behind this formula, especially when the invention has almost no moving parts.

Windpipe vs. GE turine comparison Source: John R. Tuttle