11/6/08 Developing Geothermal Energy

Developing Geothermal Energy. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. Geothermal energy is nothing new. It has been used for centuries and has a long history around the globe including the UK, Russia, Denmark and the Philippines. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne recently announced plans that would boost geothermal production in the western United States. KEMPTHORNE: A plan to make more than 190 million acres of federal lands available for developing geothermal energy resources. Geothermal energy will play a key role in powering America's energy future which will require wide variety of energy sources including wind, solar, nuclear, oil, natural gas, coal, as well as increased energy conservation and efficiency. The plan will cover 12 western states and Kempthorne says it will help reduce carbon emissions. KEMPTHORNE: Because geothermal energy is replenished by heat sources deep in the earth, it is a renewable resource that generates electricity with minimal carbon emissions. Geothermal offers additional possibilities for reducing the need for conventional energy sources. Kempthorne says that heat generated could be used for heating homes, aquaculture, greenhouses and more. KEMPTHORNE: As many as 270 western communities could benefit from direct uses of geothermal. Today both city and state buildings and facilities in Boise are heated and powered by some of Idaho's geothermal resources providing considerable cost savings to taxpayers. The Final Geothermal Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement  the initiative could produce 5,540 megawatts of new electric generation capacity from geothermal resources by 2015. KEMPTHORNE: We're proposing to identify about 118-million acres of public lands managed by Interiors Bureau of Land Management and 70-million acres of national forest system lands as available for potential geothermal leasing. Lands within a unit of the national parks system such as Yellowstone National Park will continue to be unavailable for leasing. One megawatt of geothermal energy provides enough power to meet all the electricity needs of more than 1,000 homes. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.