The document discusses geothermal energy as a renewable and eco-friendly energy source. It notes that geothermal energy taps into the Earth's natural heat and is a clean alternative to fossil fuels. While some countries have adopted geothermal power, India has significant untapped geothermal potential but has focused less on developing this resource. The document calls for India to strategically develop its geothermal reserves and allocate more funding to extract this renewable source of energy beneath its feet to avoid future energy crises and meet rising demand in a sustainable manner.

1. International Journal of Advanced Research in Engineering and Technology (IJARET), ISSN 0976 –
6480(Print), ISSN 0976 – 6499(Online) Volume 4, Issue 2, March – April (2013), © IAEME
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GEOTHERMAL ENERGY; THE ECO-FRIENDLY ALTERNATIVE
SOURCE OF ENERGY
Chandrashekhar R. Suryawanshi
Associate professor in BharatiVidyapeeth Deemed University, Pune
ABSTRACT
To develop energy one can have renewable and non-renewable resources. One of the
renewable resource is Geothermal which is plentiful, eco-friendly, clean, reliable and
renewable energy alternative resources available at beneath of our feet. Only It needs to
extract and convert it in to clean energy. In global scenario ,developed countries have adopted
geothermal energy as major source of energy. In India there is wide scope for utilizations of
geothermal resource but India needs to strategically evaluate its supply options to meet its
energy requirement. Coal would continue to be the dominant energy source .Coal-based
power plants give rise to heavy carbon emission. With global efforts to control this menace
taking a final shape guided by Kyoto Protocol, India should focus its attention on developing
other cleaner sources of energy. India has vast reserves of the nuclear fuel thorium but the
technology is not yet developed for its commercial use. Renewable energy could also
contribute usefully to India’s energy requirement.
Keywords: Geothermal, Renewable, Bio-Diesel, binary cycle, solar power, biomass, wind
power
ARTICLE CLASSIFICATION: GENERAL REVIEW
INTRODUCTION
The word 'energy' is all about resources of the world which can be used to 'do useful
activities'. Energy resources are essential to human beings because almost everything we do
requires the use of energy. Any development in the nation demands energy. So energy is the
basic driver of a nation’s economy. Rapid urbanization, industrialization, rising incomes, and
the growing use of energy intensive products are driving nations demand for energy. To
develop energy one can have renewable and non-renewable resources. One of the renewable
resource is Geothermal which is plentiful, eco-friendly, clean, reliable and renewable energy
alternative resources available at beneath of our feet. Only It needs to extract and convert it in
to clean energy.
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CASE:
Considering five to eight percent economy growth in developing countries has
develop strong thrust for energy. However, with a targeted GDP growth rate of 7 to 8 percent,
and an estimated energy elasticity of 0.80, the energy requirements of the developing
countries are expected to grow at five to six percent per annum over the next few years. This
implies a four-fold increase in energy requirement over the next 25 years. Survey conducted
by BP Statistical review of world energy 2011 Share of renewable energy resources in
primary energy is continuously increasing as compare to bio-fuels and other resources.
According to IEA Energy technology prospective 2010 ,strength of geothermal power
generation of various leading countries in TWK are as Africa 6.12%,China 5.62%,OECD
Pacific 5.47%, OECD Europe 7.21%,OECD North America23.82% , Other Developing Asia
31.82% ,Central & South America 6.47%, Economies in Transaction 12.34% , and India
1.13%. Today India is fifth largest consumer of electricity and by 2030 it will become third
largest overtaking Japan and Russia. According to statistical data available by energy
planning commission govt. of India.
India’s Primary commercial energy consumption in 2004 stood 375.8 mtoe(million
tones oil equivalent); and it would be become double to 812 mtoe within ten to twenty years
that does not include 66% hike in traditional household consumptions. This demands that we
seriously plan and execute energy-producing projects without any further delay. If we fail on
this front then our economy will be hit badly and all our calculations about our growth rate
could go haywire. For developing energy one can have renewable and non-renewable
resources. India is producing electricity from primary non-renewable resources such as
fossil fuels; i.e 56% from coal, 10% from gas 1%from oil the rest comes from hydro electric
plants 25% and 3% from nuclear power station and 5% is contributed from renewable
resources such as bio-fuel, biomass, solar, tidal, and wind .Production of energy frequently
contains an element of conflict between ecological and economic concern. With the usage of
fusil fuels, pollution in large urban metros has resulted in great demand for alternative with
low emission as per internationally accepted norms.
RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES
A renewable energy source is an important element of India’s power policy, to meet
the need of an environmentally friendly power to remote areas. India has vast potential for
renewable energy ,especially in areas such as solar power, biomass, wind power and
geothermal power .The current installed capacity of renewable energy is around 7100MW
constituting 6% of India’s total generation capacity. As ministry of non-conventional energy
sources has set an objective of achieving an installed renewable capacity of 10000MW by
2012.Certain form of renewable energy sources viz-wind energy, small hydro and biomass
have established a strong presence in India in the energy landscape. With an installed
capacity of around 4400MW of wind base power generation, India is fourth largest wind
power generator in the world. India ranks second in the world with an installation base of 3.8
million biogas plants. Some state governments have provided lot of encouragement for
renewable, such as Bio-Diesel for which cultivation of crops such as Jatropha has been
encouraged on large scale. In all these exercise, we have overlooked the utilization of another
very important source of clean and renewable source of energy that our planet is gifted with.
This is geothermal energy. India should focus on the characteristics of those energy source
and ways and means of tapping it for commercial purpose.

3. International Journal of Advanced Research in Engineering and Technology (IJARET), ISSN 0976 –
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GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
Geothermal energy is the use of steam and hot water generated by heat from the Earth
to perform work. Some geothermal power plants use steam or hot water from a natural
underground reservoir to power a generator. The heat of the earth's interior generates
damaging and polluting the environment. Earth’s temperature increases gradually with depth,
at the center reaching more than 42000
C (76000
F) .As heat naturally moves from hotter to
cooler regions, so earth’s heat flows along a geothermal gradient from the surface, where an
estimated 42 trillion thermal watts are continually radiated into space. The Bulk of this
immense heat supply cannot be particularly captured, because it arrives at the surface at a low
temperature. Fortunately, the fundamental geological process known as plate tectonics
ensures that some of this heat is concentrated at temperature and depths favorable for its
commercial extraction.
INITIATIVE BY INDIAN GOVERNMENT
The National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), Hyderabad, has conducted
magneto-telluric investigations in Tattapani Geothermal fields in Chhatisgarh to identify sub-
surface geological structures to evaluate its energy and thermal potential. Based on the
promising results obtained during the investigations, it is planned to develop the site for
power generation. A similar study has been carried out through NGRI in Puga Geothermal
Fields in Ladakh region of Jammu & Kashmir and the site is planned to be developed for
power generation. There are other organizations working on those development.
ORGANIZATIONS WORKING ON GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
• Central Electricity Authority
• Geological Survey of India
• Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai
• Regional Research Laboratory, Jammu
• National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad
• Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Dehradun
• National Hydro-electric Power Corporation
CONCLUSION
India has high scope in utilizing its geothermal resources . India’s ministry of non
conventional energy and other geo research centers may pay their attentions towards these
renewable resources of clean energy. They can plan for allocating sufficient funds for
development and research of technology for usage of those resources effectively. Geothermal
energy is plentiful, eco-friendly, clean, reliable and renewable energy alternative resources
available at beneath of our feet. Only it needs to extract and convert it in to clean energy.
India has tapped only few percent of these resources, it needs to put efforts and allocate fund
for development of the technology to avoid future energy crises.

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REFERENCES
[1] IEA Energy technology prospective 2010
[2] BP Statistical Review of World Energy ©BP 2011
[3] Planning Commission Report Government of India 2006
[4] Indian energy out- look , Energy and Natural Resources
[5] Proceedings World Geothermal Congress 2000, by D.Chandrashekharan,
[6] IIT,Mumbai .Geothermal resources of India.
[7] The Brooking ,Foreign Policy Studies ,Energy Security Series India by-Tanvi Madan
[8] U.S.Dept.Of Energy ,Washington