Introduction

What's Our Problem and Why

Who am I

Ocean Rift Geothermal Energy

Ocean Rift Geothermal Power Plant (Figure 1)

Geothermal Source (Figure 2)

Electrical Energy With No Air Pollution

Principles of Operation

Basic Advantages of the Concept

The Potential

Expected Impact

Potential Sites

Water & Mineral Recovery

Water & Mineral Recovery
Design (Figure 3)

The Next Steps

Full-Size Power Plant

Appendix A

Preliminary Cost Estimate

 

What's Our Problem and Why

Worldwide scientific studies related to environmental pollution caused by burning hydrocarbon fuels, emphasize the need for alternate energy sources. Atmospheric models generated through earth studies and the NASA space probes to Mars and Venus indicate a statistically probable global warming trend due to the greenhouse effect. In addition, it has been established that these combustion products adversely affect our protective ozone layer.

A number of current conditions aggravate the situation:

• Production of new nuclear power plants has been virtually stopped in the United States, the earth's largest energy consumer.
• To replace this energy loss, the U.S. has shifted to the use of coal. Pound-for-pound, coal produces the largest amount of carbon dioxide of any major fuel, and CO2 is the leading absorption gas in the greenhouse effect.
• At the same time, vast spans of oxygen-producing rain forest are being destroyed.

There are a number of energy sources available to man other than chemical combustion. The most plentiful source of energy is the sun. Unfortunately, solar energy is not, in general, a concentrated form of energy. For this reason, it will require considerable effort and expense to harvest solar energy or any energy form that is generated by the solar interaction, such as wind.

The second most abundant source of energy lies in the vast geothermal reserves below the earth's surface. Herein lays a tremendous untapped source of concentrated energy that is within the reach of present technology.