Solar power is the method of collecting the suns energy. Unlike the nonrenewable natural energy resources, solar power will not run out nor will it hurt the environment.

Solar power has the ability to give your house electricity. Between the air you breath being cleaner and your electricity bills being dramatically reduced converting your house to solar power is worth giving a thought. To get electricity from solar power you have to hook solar panels up to your house.

A solar panel is two panes of glass that have little cells connected by wires called solar cells in it. Solar cells are like little batteries except that they get filled with energy instead of all ready having energy in them. You get electricity when you connect your house to the solar cells in a solar panel.

The solar cells are put inside of the glass panes for two reasons. The first reason is to weatherproof the solar cells. It would do you no good to have solar panels if when the first time it rained they shorted out.

The next reason is that when the sun shines through the pane of glass it gives it the green house effect. The solar cells are then able to generate more energy which comes in handy on cloudy days.

Another great thing solar power is used for is heating your water. For as long as the sun has existed it has provided the earth with a natural heater. Heating your water with the sun is called thermal solar power.

Heating your water and providing your house with electricity are the two big things solar power can be used for. Using these two methods on your house will pay for themselves with the reduction of your electric bill. Besides a lower bill you could also receive a check from the electric company if you produce more power then you use.

Using solar panels and thermal solar power are not the only ways solar energy can improve your life. You can get battery chargers that are powered by solar power, phone chargers, or even buy kits to turn gas powered things into solar powered.

Using solar power on the small things may not seem like it would make much of a difference but over time even the little things add up.

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Using the natural heat from the earth, geothermal energy is fast becoming an important source of renewable energy. It has already been used to provide power to 1.2 million homes in the United States. It has far greater potential and to both heat and provide electricity to homes and is yet to be properly utilized. That's about to change.

Geothermal energy comes from a variety of heat sources within the earth: decay of naturally occurring substances within the crust, the planet core and movement of continental plates as they slide against and underneath each other. Volcanoes, hot springs and steam vents represent the easily accessible points to this energy but most geothermal energy is trapped under the earth’s crust and must be accessed by drilling into the resource and harnessing the energy. The thermal energy in the uppermost 6 miles of the earth’s crust contains 50,000 times the energy of all the world’s gas and oil resources.

What Is Geothermal Energy?

Geothermal energy is the heat stored under the earth’s surface. In some parts of the world where the earth’s surface is cracked or thin, molten rock and steam can escape. These are usually locations of high seismic activity such as earthquakes and volcanoes. If water finds its way into these cracks, it becomes heated and may come to the surface as geysers, fumaroles, hot springs and mud pots.

Parts of New Zealand, Japan, USA and Europe have high geothermal activity. Electricity is generated using high grade geothermal energy such as geysers, mud pots, hot dry rocks and fumaroles. Geothermal energy can also be used as a heating source, for example in Iceland hot water is brought to the surface through a bore , then sent through insulated pipes into homes and radiator panels which provide heat. Over 80% of homes in Iceland are heated this way.

Although geothermal energy doesn’t pollute the air with greenhouse gases, there are other environmental concerns about its use. Scientists are not sure how the long-term use of this resource could affect our underground water supplies. Some geothermal tourist attractions at Rotorua in New Zealand have already suffered a decline in surface activity due to the draw-off of geothermal fluid from the underground reservoir by domestic and commercial uses.

Geothermal energy can be broken down into 4 main types – Geothermal energy can be broken down into 4 main types – magma, hot dry rock, hydrothermal and geopressured.

Hydrothermal

Hydrothermal is the only source used to generate commercially viable energy and is derived from hot water and steam formed in porous or fractured rock at relatively moderate depths from 100 metres to 5 kilometres.

The steam and hot water come from the intrusion of molten magma into the earth’s crust or the deep circulation and heating of groundwater through faults and fractures.

Electricity is created by bringing hot water to the surface where it is flashed to steam in special vessels by release of pressure. The steam is then used by being directed into a turbine engine which turns a generator. Ensuring the water levels are not depleted, the used geothermal water is returned to the reservoir.

Geopressured

Geopressured energy comes from hot, pressurised waters containing dissolved methane, trapped at depths of three to six kilometres in sedimentary formations. The water temperature ranges from 90°C to 200°C.

Three forms of energy can be derived from geopressured sources – chemical energy from burning the dissolved methane, hydraulic energy from the high pressure, and thermal energy from the hot water.

Hot Dry Rock

Under certain conditions granite at a depth of 3 to 5 kilometers below the ground can get to 250°C. Unlike hydrothermal resources, it is necessary to drill bore holes to get to the hot rock formations and then water must be pumped into the rock at high pressure to create an artificial underground reservoir of steam or hot water.

A number of development projects continue into attempting to make use of hot dry rock to create electricity but factors such as cost and questions about resistance of the reservoir to flow, water loss and thermal drawdown remain. Costs are coming down though and geothermal technology in general will improve enough to make hot dry rock economically feasible.

Magma

There is still no practical way of extracting the energy potential from magma. Found at depths from between 3 and 10 kilometers under the earth's surface, magma is molten rock reaching temperatures up to 1200°C. Magma is only accessible where volcanic activity or tectonic plate movement occurs.

The Future Prospect of Geothermal Energy in the US

An exciting new development in the future of geothermal energy in the United States has just been announced by the Department of the Interior who have promised to make 190 million acres of federal land available for geothermal power development. This is good news because the proposed land includes no environmentally sensitive areas such as national parks or designated wilderness areas.

An estimation of something like 5,500 MW of electricity from geothermal power will be generated by 2015. It’s a positive move that will promote a form of renewable energy that has been used for years, but perhaps not to its full potential.