Osmeña: Prioritize geothermal energy

Antonio V. OsmeñaEstatements

SPECIAL interest groups continue to prioritize the use of coal to burn in boilers to produce steam and generate electrical power, providing about 85 percent of the electricity used in the world.

In the nuclear power scenario, regardless of how one feels about nuclear power, the major factor slowly shutting down the world’s nuclear industries is economics.

Only where nuclear power is pushed, controlled and heavily subsidized by a strong central government does it survive.

There is no way for less developed countries (LDCs) like the Philippines to subsidize nuclear power, which is a very expensive way to produce electricity.

Beneath the Philippine archipelago are decaying radioactive elements that generate heat that slowly flows into buried rock formations.

Under intense pressure and lava flow from the molten interior of the earth, some of the earth’s geothermal energy escapes through hot springs, geysers and volcanoes, and some is transferred over thousands to millions of years to normally nonrenewable deposits of dry steam, wet steam (mixture of steam and water droplets), and hot water lying relatively close to the earth’s surface.

Today, the Philippines has well-developed geothermal wells located in the islands of Leyte and Oriental Negros that have been producing geothermal energy to produce electricity.

It is now a question of political will whether or not our country desires to avail itself of the geothermal energy to produce the electricity needs all over the Philippinearchipelago, by way of legislating short, intermediate and long-range programs so that it will make a significant contribution in the campaign to manage climate change.

Congress needs to legislate incentives to encourage the drilling of geothermal wells.
Geothermal wells can be drilled like oil and natural gas wells to bring this dry, wet steam or hot water to the earth’s surface.

Unfortunately, there is a lack of media information regarding the status of geothermal resources in our country.

The public should be aware that the advantages of geothermal energy are: (1) the technology is well-developed and relatively simple; (2) large supply for 100 to 200 years exist for areas near deposits; (3) moderate costs; (4) moderate net useful energy yield for large and easily accessible deposits; (5) does not produce carbon dioxide; (6) does not produce materials that can be used to produce nuclear weapons; (7) land disturbance low to moderate, which can be decreased by reinjecting wastewater; and (8) in due time, electricity from geothermal energy will be a source to power electric cars, now a priority project of automakers worldwide.

Environmentalists who are concerned about air pollution from burning coal must prove that there is no effective air pollution device that causes the emission of sulphur dioxide and small amounts of radioactive substances, particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, toxic metal compounds and cancer-causing substances.

Without adequate pollution devices, coal produces more carbon dioxide per weight burned than oil or natural gas, which could accelerate possible global climate change.

Also, coal is messy to store, expensive to transport, requires large amounts of water for processing and cooling of power plants, and produces coal ash, which is messy to dispose of.
Underground wet steam deposits are more common but are harder and more expensive to convert to electricity. These deposits contain water under such high pressure that its temperature is unusually high (180 to 370 degrees C).

When a geothermal well is drilled to bring this superheated water to the surface, about 10 to 20 percent of the flow flashes into steam because of the decreased pressure.

A centrifugal separator is then used to separate the steam from the mixture of steam and water droplets, and the steam spins a turbine to produce electricity.

The remaining hot water, which is often high in dissolved salts, and the condensed steam, are usually reinjected into the earth to prevent buildup of dissolved salts in nearby bodies of water and to reduce subsidence of the ground above the geothermal wells.

The major problem to tackle is the strong lobby of the special interest groups to still prioritize coal.