Parts of the World where Geothermal Energy can be utilized

Geothermal energy is being used for various applications like producing electricity, heating water, cooling and heating the buildings, in spas etc. The most prominent use of geothermal energy is for producing electricity and for maintaining the temperature of the buildings. At present more than 7000MW of power throughout the world is being produced by the geothermal energy. Similarly there are thousands of buildings using geothermal energy for heating and cooling the buildings. Let us see the various parts of world where geothermal energy reservoirs are available that can be used for various purposes.

Though the geothermal energy reservoirs are located below the earth’s crust, they are not located deep inside and can be easily reached by drilling. The layers of the earth below its crust are in slow but constant state of motion thus the hot layers can reach near the surface of the earth at any location. The best examples of such places are the areas around Pacific Ocean including places like South American Andes, Canada, Japan, Russia, Philippines, Indonesia, New Zealand etc. These places are called as hot regions, where geothermal energy is available in large quantities.

In fact these are also the countries where maximum amount of electricity is being generated from the geothermal energy. Of course, there also other countries that utilize geothermal energy for producing electricity.

In US about 2700MW of power is generated from geothermal energy, but let me inform you that this is less than half percent of the total power generated in US. At present electricity from geothermal energy is being produced in only four states, these are: California, Nevada, Hawaii and Utah.

In California there are about 14 areas where geothermal energy can be used to produce electricity. In some places the energy is less or the water is not hot enough to be used for producing electricity. The main spots of geothermal energy reservoir are:

1) Some areas in north of San Francisco

2) Areas around Volcanic National Park

3) Places around Mammoth Lakes.

4) Areas surrounding Coso Hot Springs.

5) The region of Imperial Valley in south California.

Geothermal Energy Facts