America’s most feared supervolcano has always been the subject of analysis, not only for its dire predictions for the future, but also for how it could revolutionize our country (in a good way). Just one team of experts has just discovered that, unexpectedly, it is moving in a strange way, and could begin to expel it. The solution? They have proposed to drill it (literally), with serious consequences that are also just now becoming known and an energy project that has almost no way back.
Yellowstone has started to move in a strange way: This energy has experts “extremely worried”
One such natural resource that is credited to Yellowstone National Park is not wildlife, but a mass of geothermal power stored inside the park, which has drawn the interest of the energy gurus and policymakers. Geothermal power, the energy derived from the steam produced by a pool of hot water beneath the surface, has long been seen as a source that could be actively tapped in Yellowstone.
Yellowstone has the largest and most active geothermal system in the world, with potential geothermal power ranging from 45,000 MW. This source has culminated in different geothermal power productions within the borders of this park.
Another of them can be the construction of a thermal power plant with the use of a geothermal resource located close to the park.
This would involve welling, whereby one would penetrate the earth’s surface in a bid to reach the high-temperature geothermal reserves, which would then be used to produce steam in order to spin the turbines and hence produce electricity. The third prospect to discuss is geothermal heat pumps. With them, the park could use them for heating and cooling the building structures.
Could it be a good idea to “drill” Yellowstone? This is what experts say about current projects
Such systems would use the fairly constant underground temperatures to provide heat or coolness to structures and, thereby, reducing the use of fossil fuels. There are prospects for geothermal development in the region and a general interest in geothermal power generation, however great restrictions have been put on the park’s protected status that do not allow large scale construction.
To-date, there is no operating geothermal power station and no large-scale geothermal development within the park. However, several small-scale geothermal projects in the Yellowstone region has been studied and developed to some extent. For example, a Geothermal district heating system located in Bozeman city of Montana state outside the park is employed to provide heating for several buildings.
Calculations indicate that geothermal resources of the Yellowstone area could produce electricity ranging from 35,000 MW to 45,000 MW, which is equal to the capacity of 35 to 45 typical nuclear power stations. Nevertheless, accessing this is fraught with quite a number of problems.
Yellowstone won’t be drilled “for the time being”: Experts have some ideas for the future
Experts continue to list the advantages of risking the Yellowstone geothermal development, including obtaining the clean and renewable electricity. This, they argue, can only be made possible if great planning and encouraging environmental measures are incorporated while undertaking the geothermal projects.
However, other researchers are somewhat more restrained, stating that, first, Yellowstone is a rather specific and, second, relatively brittle environment. Opponents simply state that it is too dangerous to carry out drilling and development, the park should remain a natural territory, without great observation of projects.
Finally, the decision to proceed with the geothermal energy harnessing in Yellowstone would involve an assessment of the pros and cons of the benefits of energy from geothermal resources in comparison to the negative impacts that harnessing of the steam resource maybe have on the park’s natural system, whether in the short run or in the long run.
The new project to generate geothermal energy in Yellowstone could end well, or not, as we hope. However, experts ask that we be cautious and prudent, as we do not yet know how the magma chamber might react or in what exact cycle it is in. A short-term eruption is more than ruled out, although the thousands of earthquakes experienced per year are proof that it is still active, although dormant, but far from being inactive (far from the alarmist hoaxes that we have dismantled on more than one occasion).
