Geothermal Heating and Its Effects on the Environment

Geothermal heating provides many benefits especially to homes and buildings. The fact that the energy it uses comes from nature makes it very appealing to homeowners. And with a renewable source that will never go out of supply, it incurs less operational costs compared to any other type of heating system available in the market today.

The term geothermal actually pertains to two Greek words, “gheo” meaning earth and “thermal” which means heat. Geothermal energy is formed deep in the earth’s core where temperatures can reach more than 6,000 degrees Celsius, hot enough to melt even a solid rock. Temperatures below the earth’s surface are constant all year round the reason why geothermal energy is very suitable for heating and cooling homes and other closed infrastructures.

In the olden days, geothermal energy was used in some countries in hot springs that served as places where people can take a bath for recreation or for medical healing. In fact, it was already known in the ancient times such as during the Roman period that geothermal water notably in hot springs has positive therapeutic effects on humans. It is even believed that it can help heal skin diseases.

In assessing the effects of geothermal energy considering its various applications, it can be seen that it has no negative impact on the environment or less, if at all. Use of geothermal heating systems, for instance, emits no fumes and the absence of fans makes them less noisy. Perhaps the only environmental problem that can occur when installing geothermal heating or power system is the digging up of your lawn when pipes are being buried underground. This type of home heating project usually involves closed loop systems that need to be installed underneath the soil.

Apart from this installation of a home geothermal heating system, only a large project has a potential of causing some damage to the environment. One example is the generation of electricity from superheated water. This project entails the drilling of the ground to release the steam being generated at the interface of underground water deposits and magma.

Although the drilling process may already cause damage, the construction procedure to assemble the huge equipment that will be used to generate power has a more adverse environmental effect. Since the areas where much steam occurs are normally situated in remote and rugged places, a road may need to be built in order to bring the needed machinery. Several professionals take part in the process and environmental consultants are often hired to obtain the necessary permits for such a major project.

Another project involving geothermal heating that can impact the environment pertains to the open discharge systems used near lakes or ponds. Since water is a good conductor of heat, some companies opt to locate their facilities near bodies of water. However, there are laws that require firms using this system to prove at the local, county or state level that no harm is being done to the environment by letting discharges from the system seep into the watershed or by lowering the water’s oxygen.

Overall though, geothermal heating is environment friendly and beneficial to humans thus it remains a popular choice among homeowners and builders as well.

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