Earlier in a post, I discussed the various advantages of geothermal energy and its effects. But the question remains that if geothermal energy is so clean and productive, then why don’t we use it commonly to generate power? Here are some disadvantages of producing power through geothermal energy to explain this.

The biggest disadvantages of building a geothermal energy plant is the time it takes to exploration the perfect land. While exploring the suitable place, researchers will do a land survey, which may take several years to complete. Thus if a company wishes to build a plant, it may have to wait for several years before the researchers reply whether the land is suitable or not.

Moreover, most companies that order surveys are often disappointed, as the land they were interested is incapable of supporting a geothermal energy plant. In order to extract the heat required, we have to find certain hot spots within the earths crust, which are quite common around volcanoes and fault lines, which are obviously very difficult places to build a geothermal energy plant.

However, there are certain land areas that may have the sufficient hot rocks to heat up the water to generate power. Some great spots have been found in New Zealand, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

Some common questions that are answered in a survey include; whether the rock is soft enough to drill through, do the rocks contain sufficient heat, will the heat be sustainable for a significant amount of time, and lastly, is the environment fit for a power plant? If most of these answers are positive, then a more in depth survey is conducted.

One of the other biggest disadvantage of geothermal energy extraction is that many times, a site that constantly produces steam and turns it into power for many years, may suddenly stop producing steam. This is possible to last for around 10 years in some cases.

The constructors should also be aware of the harmful gases that can escape from deep within the earth, through the holes drilled by the constructors. Disposing of the gas can be very tricky and the developers should take measures to do it safely.

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