WHAT ARE SOME OF THE ADVANTAGES OF USING GEOTHERMAL ENERGY TO GENERATE ELECTRICITY?
* Clean. Geothermal power plants, like wind and solar power plants, do not have to burn fuels to manufacture steam to turn the turbines. Generating electricity with geothermal energy helps to conserve nonrenewable fossil fuels, and by decreasing the use of these fuels, we reduce emissions that harm our atmosphere. There is no smoky air around geothermal power plants — in fact some are built in the middle of farm crops and forests, and share land with cattle and local wildlife. For ten years, Lake County California, home to five geothermal electric power plants, has been the first and only county to meet the most stringent governmental air quality standards in the U.S. * Easy on the land. The land area required for geothermal power plants is smaller per megawatt than for almost every other type of power plant. Geothermal installations don’t require damming of rivers or harvesting of forests — and there are no mine shafts, tunnels, open pits, waste heaps or oil spills. * Reliable.
