The phrase “geothermal energy” has been around for hundreds of years. The term “geothermal” derives from the Greek words; geo (meaning earth) and therm (meaning heat). This instantly gives us the quick definition, “geothermal energy is heat from the earth.”
A common misunderstanding of geothermal energy lies in the source of this heat. The two sources that heat our earth are the earth’s core and the sun.
The earth’s core is predicted to be between 3,000 and 4,000 degrees Celsius, and this heat warms the earth to the ground below our feet, lowering the temperature entirely.
The surface of the sun is approximately 5600 degrees Celsius. The heat of the sun only warms the first few meters of our land, and then this heat is lost during the night.
So where does the misconception about geothermal energy really come from? Well, many people believe that the rather modern method of heating water by running pipes under about 1 meter of soil is geothermal energy. Many scientists disagree with this, since geothermal energy should be used to describe thermal energy dispersed by the earth’s core.
The variant of geothermal energy that comes from the sun should actually be described as a ground heat source, since solar energy is only capable of heating the edge of our earth’s crust, before the sun sets and the sun rises. heat is lost .
In recent years, companies that used to promote “geothermal boilers” are now switching to using the term “ground source heat pumps” since a ground source heat pump uses energy from the sun, not thermal energy. from the core of the earth.
The correct process of extracting geothermal energy is associated with geothermal power plants. This extraction is only possible by drilling very deep holes into the earth, so they can achieve a substantial level of geothermal energy to heat water and extract steam to drive turbines.
So, there we have the basic understanding of geothermal energy and the variant of this energy.