The heat stored under the earths surface has more than 50,000 times more energy than all of the oil and gas in the world combined. This power is more reliable than most other alternative sources including tidal, wind, wave and solar. In the United States alone, geothermal power generates nearly 3000 megawatts of electricity which equates to the amount of power to run South Dakota. The majority of these reservoirs are around 300 degrees F. There is a small hot springs north east of Fairbanks Alaska that has 165 degree springs which is more than enough for them to operate a small power plant for local uses. And not only do they use this for electricity, but also for space heating, and growing tomatoes and large amounts of fresh foods. The Chena Hot Springs resort has two 200 kilowatt generators and has reduced their 30 cents per kilowatt to 5 cents per kilowatt, and are expected to pay off there investments in less than 5 years. The use of hot water to produce power seems so easy, efficient, and ideal that it seems so unreal that this is not as widely used as it should be. One big setback to this type of power comes from the location of these small hot springs. It becomes economically unstable to produce the power and then transform it into power lines and send it out. There is just not enough money in it to make up for the losses in the power lines. If you want to use the hot water for heating your house, then you must also be close to the source because by the time the water gets to you it must still be hot, this is just common sense.
