In New Zealand, around
13 percent of their
energy is comes from
geothermal power.In 2011, the Philippines
generated around 16 percent
of its energy using
geothermal plants.THE EARTH
FUN FACTS
Geothermal
energy was first
used to generate
electricity in 1904.Beneath your feet is a vast, glowing supply of
infinite power! Sounds like science fiction, right?
Well, if you dig deep enough, about 40 kilometres
down in most places, you will find the Ear th’s
“mantle” – a layer of boiling magma that the
crust floats on, and it is really ver y hot indeed. It
is around 900 degrees centigrade at the top and
gets to about 4,000 degrees near the core at the
ver y centre of the Ear th. This heat is an incredible
source of energy, which we call “geothermal”
energy. “Geo” comes from the Greek work for
ear th, and “thermal” comes from the Greek word
“thermos” meaning heat.
The molten mantle means that the water
and rocks deep inside the Ear th’s crust are
also ex tremely hot! This boiling water and lava
sometimes erupts from the ground as geysers and
volcanic eruptions, and in the process produces
huge amounts of steam. This steam can be used
to turn a turbine (think of the steam shooting out
of the spout of a boiling ket tle!), which can power
a generator, to produce electricity.
In some places, water heated by the Ear th
can be used to directly heat buildings during
cold winters! Hot water also bubbles up from the
ground in some places creating hot springs that
people have been using for thousands of years.
GOING GREEN!G