June 6, 2001 -- With energy costs rising, it should become increasingly attractive to develop electric power plants that harness geothermal energy from steam and hot water heated within the Earth.

"There's enormous potential to significantly increase geothermal electric power production in the American West," said senior geologist Jeffrey Hulen, of the University of Utah's Energy & Geoscience Institute (EGI). "It's economical to develop geothermal energy right now. Major companies now are seriously considering expansions of existing fields."

Under contract from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Hulen and the institute recently finished writing and printing an eight-page informational booklet "Geothermal Energy: Clean Sustainable Energy for the Benefit of Humanity and the Environment."

More than 31,000 copies have been printed for distribution around the nation to help increase public awareness of geothermal power. It is a complete revision of an older geothermal brochure the institute published for the federal agency.

The booklet explains how heat is produced within the Earth; how geothermal energy is used for electricity, direct heating and heat pumps; how geothermal has minimal environmental impacts; and how technology improvements will aid development of geothermal resources.

News media and Utah residents may obtain copies by contacting Hulen at (801) 581-8497 or jhulen@egi.utah.edu.

Hulen conducts research aimed at improving scientific understanding of geothermal systems so companies can find new ones more easily and make existing geothermal power facilities more efficient. He is a co-author of the 1997 book, "Volcanoes: Crucibles of Change."

Most existing and potential U.S. geothermal fields are in the West, where there is more volcanism and where Earth's crust is thinner and hotter than in the rest of the nation.

Hulen said the most promising areas for geothermal development are the eastern flank of the volcanic Cascade Range in Oregon and Washington state, and the Great Basin, which stretches from eastern California through Nevada to Utah's Wasatch Range, and north into southern Idaho and southeastern Oregon.

Until recently, geothermal has not been economically competitive with other power sources because it can cost $1 million to $4 million to drill a single well, and finding the best place to drill is difficult. But drilling costs are dropping, and rising costs and supply problems with other energy sources make geothermal increasingly attractive, said Hulen.

Last year, the Department of Energy announced its GeoPowering the West initiative, aimed at spurring geothermal energy development so geothermal plants produce 10 percent of all electricity used in the West by 2020.

Hulen said northern Nevada already gets 10 percent of its power from geothermal fields, and 5 percent of California's power is geothermal - primarily from The Geysers, which now "is the world's biggest producing geothermal field," with output of about 1,100 megawatts, equivalent to a nuclear power plant.

Even a smaller state like Utah has two geothermal electric plants: the 23-megawatt Roosevelt Hot Springs facility near Milford run by Utah Power and CalEnergy Corp., and the Utah Municipal Power Association's Cove Fort Station, which is located north of Beaver and is producing about 5 megawatts. Hulen said the two geothermal fields have the potential to produce 300 megawatts.
One megawatt of generating capacity commonly is said to provide enough electricity for 1,000 homes, although Utah Power says that when peak demand is considered, 1 megawatt actually is sufficient for 513 homes.

Geothermal already far outstrips solar as a source of U.S. electricity, Hulen said, noting that last year, almost one-half percent of U.S. energy consumption was from geothermal, compared with one-fiftieth of a percent from solar.

The Energy & Geoscience Institute is among the largest university-based Earth science research institutes in North America, with more than 50 scientists and staff members and some $5 million in annual funding from the Department of Energy, international energy companies, the National Science Foundation, Department of Defense and other sources. It is part of the university's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

EGI is the successor to the University of Utah Research Institute. Its Geothermal Group has conducted research on behalf of the Department of Energy for a quarter century.

"The research conducted by the EGI's Geothermal Group at the U is world renowned," said Raymond A. Levey, the institute's director. "EGI scientists are evaluating sources of geothermal energy in the western United States, Indonesia and Central America with the goal of improving our fundamental understanding of these systems to economically produce sustainable clean sources of energy worldwide."

Information about the Energy & Geoscience Institute is online at http://www.egi.utah.edu.