Abstract
This chapter presents general information about the recent methods applied for geothermal systems. Geothermal engineering can be separated into two groups: research about the underground geothermal reservoir using geophysical and numerical methods and the use of a geothermal power plant as a technology to produce electricity from the underground hot waters. In this chapter, both aspects are presented.
Twenty-four countries are currently generating electricity from geothermal resources and 78 countries are using geothermal energy for heating purposes. The total installed geothermal capacity worldwide is 10.7 GWe.
This chapter is divided into four parts:
The first part, the introduction, discusses the current use of geothermal electricity and the trend of installed geothermal capacity in the world. It also explains the main concepts of geothermal engineering and presents the different types of hydrothermal systems.
The second part describes geothermal engineering technology and its components. This part presents direct utilization, geothermal heat pumps, electric power generation and combined heat and power generation, the numerical modeling of geothermal systems, the current state of practice, recent advances, and emerging trends in geothermal reservoir simulation and hybrid-microgravity monitoring applications at geothermal field.
The third part presents a case study of Húsavík Energy in Iceland.
In the fourth part, the economic analysis is presented.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
R.G. Allis, T.M. Hunt, Analysis of exploitation-induced gravity changes at Wairakei geothermal field. Geophysics 51, 1647–1660 (1986)
R. Bertani, Geothermal power generation in the world 2005–2010 update report. Geothermics 41, 1–29 (2012)
GEO-Geothermal Education Office, Geothermal energy introduction (2001), http://geothermal.marin.org/index.html
GEA, Global Energy Assessment – Toward a Sustainable Future. (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Vienna, Austria and Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York, 2012), p. 1888
B. Goldstein, G. Hiriart, R. Bertani, C. Bromley, L. Gutierrez-Negrin, E. Huenges, H. Muraoka, A. Ragnarsson, J. Tester, V. Zui, Contribution to special report renewable energy sources (SRREN), International panel on climate change (IPPC) (2012)
H. Hjartason, R. Maack, S. Jóhannesson, GHC Bull. 26, 7–13 (2005)
International Energy Outlook, U.S. Energy Information Administration, 292 (2011)
J.W. Lund, D.H. Freeston, T.L. Boyd, Direct utilization of geothermal energy 2010 worldwide review. Geothermics 40(3), 159–240 (2010)
M.J. O’Sullivan, K. Pruess, M.J. Lippmann, State of the art of geothermal reservoir simulation. Geothermics 30, 395–429 (2001)
F. Pirajno, Hydrothermal Mineral Deposits (Springer, Berlin, 1992), p. 709
K. Pruess, C. Oldenburg, G. Moridis, TOUGH2 user’s guide, version 2.0, report LBNL-43134, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA (1999)
H. Saibi, J. Nishijima, S. Ehara, Reservoir monitoring by repeat microgravity measurement at Obama geothermal field, southwestern Japan. Geothermal and volcanological research report of Kyushu University, 1, No. 14, 27–31 (2005)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this entry
Cite this entry
Saibi, H., Finsterle, S., Bertani, R., Nishijima, J. (2013). Geothermal Energy. In: Kauffman, J., Lee, KM. (eds) Handbook of Sustainable Engineering. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8939-8_120
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8939-8_120
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-8938-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-8939-8
eBook Packages: EngineeringReference Module Computer Science and Engineering