Things may be bleak economically right now but I’m sure more than a few home owners living in Iceland take pride in the fact that the capital of their country, Rekjavik, is powered by geothermal energy. After all, it leaves a Rekjavik an impressively clean urban area by anyone’s standards; and what a sign of commitment to the protection of the environment!

Let’s have a paragraph or two explaining what geothermal energy really is, and why it is so lauded. Maybe you covered it in science / geography lessons back in school? But this in intended to be an in-detail explanation. It all begins with the drilling of deep holes into the Earth’s crust, on a proposed geothermal energy power station site. When that is done, and everything else is in place, one pumps cold water into one end; the steam that later surfaces – which is hundreds of degrees Celsius hot – is used to drive a turbine which in turn drives a generator, thereby yielding the electricity.

Geothermal energy’s popularity speaks for itself. It is no exaggeration that it is one of the best forms of natural energy in existence. It creates no pollution – even if it may, once in a while, release certain harmful gases from deep inside the Earth, these gases are only slightly harmful; and they can be contained quite easily. Geothermal plants workers may receive tax cuts due to the fact that geothermal energy is very clean (and it requires no energy to produce it).

The cost of land for a new geothermal power plant is usually less than that for a new fossil fuels plant, or a new nuclear energy plant. Geothermal plants take up very little room.

And that is not the only financial incentive attached to geothermal plants. Of course you can expect the building costs to be lower when the required land space is lower; but apart from administrative costs and wages, it is just a case of providing power to the water pumps; and even that can be generated by the power plant itself.

But what of geothermal energy in practice? One geothermal energy company insists that households can cut energy bills by up to 70% by using geothermal energy. They also point out that the energy source is reliable – an argument supported by the claims of “smooth operation”, “years of maintenance-free service” and an “attractive warranty package”. And they claim that it is adaptable – according to them, you definitely get heating, air conditioning and constant hot water from the same individual compact unit. Expect it to work efficiently with radiators, and to give warm air and underfloor heating systems – that’s what “heating comfort” is all about!

If you live in the Seattle area and would like to know more about heating and cooling your home with geothermal energy, the company to talk to is Seattle Heating and Cooling. They are far and away the experts in Geothermal Heating Seattle.