Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 7.4
The Costs of Utilizing Geothermal Heat Pump Technologies
$
Environmental
costs
Dollar
costs
National security
costs
hours per day. The market cost to consumers for electricity generated by geothermal energy in
calendar year 2009 was estimated at a bit over $1.4 billion (calculated from USEIA 2011a, Table
8.2c, Table 8.10). Federal subsidies and tax expenditures for geothermal energy were estimated at
about $273 million for FY2010, including about $200 million for electricity production (USEIA
2011b, xiii, xviii).
The costs for electricity from geothermal facilities are declining. Some geo-
thermal electric power facilities have realized at least 50 percent reductions in the price of their
electricity since 1980. A considerable portion of potential geothermal resources in California will
be able produce electricity for as little as eight cents per kilowatt-hour (including a production
tax credit), competitive with new conventional fossil fuel-fired power plants (California Energy
Commission 2003). But the potential usefulness of geothermal electric power production is limited
to areas where significant undeveloped geothermal reservoirs are found, which are mostly in the
western states, especially California, Alaska, and Hawaii.
National Security Costs of Utilizing Geothermal Energy
The heat of the earth is available everywhere, and access to it is not dependent upon the actions
of any government other than our own. As a domestic resource, no nation-state or other orga-
nization is able to control supplies or determine price. Geothermal energy produces almost no
atmospheric emissions or greenhouse gases, and what little it does produce is generated during
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