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Geothermal energy comes from heat within the Earth's crust, produced by residual planetary heat and radioactive decay.
Geothermal energy is thermal energy generated and stored within the Earth, originating mainly from planetary formation and radioactive decay. It can be used directly for heating and industrial processes or converted into electricity. Geothermal resources are especially abundant near tectonic plate boundaries, where heat is more accessible through hot springs, hydrothermal reservoirs, and deep wells. Unlike weather-dependent renewable sources, geothermal power plants can operate continuously and provide reliable baseload electricity. Electricity is generated through dry-steam, flash-steam, and binary-cycle plants. Conventional hydrothermal systems use naturally occurring hot water or steam, while engineered geothermal systems improve or create reservoirs in hot rock through techniques such as fluid injection or closed-loop circulation. Geothermal energy has low greenhouse-gas emissions and is considered renewable when extraction rates remain below the natural rate of heat replenishment. However, high drilling costs, geological uncertainty, scaling, and the risk of induced seismicity can affect project feasibility. Beyond energy production, geothermal development can support employment, local infrastructure, heating, agriculture, desalination, and industrial activity.
Geothermal energy comes from heat within the Earth's crust, produced by residual planetary heat and radioactive decay.
It supports electricity generation, district and space heating, bathing, industrial processes, desalination, and agricultural applications.
Geothermal power provides dependable output regardless of weather and generally has very low greenhouse-gas emissions.
Dry-steam, flash-steam, and binary-cycle plants are the main technologies used to generate geothermal electricity.
Enhanced and closed-loop geothermal systems expand access to hot rocks that lack sufficient natural water flow or permeability.
Major challenges include expensive drilling, uncertain resource productivity, mineral scaling, environmental management, and possible induced earthquakes.
Thermal energy extracted from the Earth's interior for heating or electricity generation.
A natural geothermal reservoir containing heated water or steam that can be accessed through wells.
A geothermal power plant that directs naturally occurring underground steam straight to a turbine.
A power plant that lowers the pressure of hot geothermal water so part of it rapidly vaporizes into steam to drive a turbine.
A geothermal plant that transfers heat from underground water to a separate organic working fluid with a lower boiling point.
An engineered system that injects water into hot, fractured rock to improve fluid circulation and heat extraction.
A system that circulates a working fluid through sealed underground pipes without directly contacting natural rock pores or fractures.
The rate at which temperature generally increases with depth below the Earth's surface.
The buildup of calcium carbonate deposits when dissolved minerals precipitate as geothermal fluids cool.
The ability of geothermal resources to remain available because extracted heat is small compared with the Earth's total heat content and fluids can often be reinjected.
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