Raft River Geo-thermal Plant:

Located 200 hundred miles, from Boise, is the small town of Raft River Idaho. In 2002 the town of Raft River and Idaho Power combined their resources to begin a project to create an alternative source of energy that was eco-friendly. This source is known as geo-thermal energy. The project began with the drilling of the wells in December 2006. In June 2007 construction began on the power plant. In November 2007 the power plant was completed and the first test was run. In January 2008 geo-thermal becomes a new source of energy for residents of Idaho.

The positive use of geo-thermal plants is that there is less than one percent chance of harmful impact on our planet.Their emission levels are very low because they do not burn fuel to generate electricity. The basic concept of geo-thermal power is based on hot water from the well being pumped to the surface. Then it's pumped through a heat exchanger, re-pumped into the ground where it is reheated and reused again. No smoke is being emitted into the atmosphere only clean steam. The cycle repeats continually. Geo-thermal plants use up to five gallons of fresh water per mega-watt hour (the binary air cooled don't use any water). While the natural gas facilities use 361 gallons per mega-watt hour. Also, geo-thermal plants emit very low carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as compared to all other energy resources. Therefore, it has the "lowest level" of impact upon global warming. No wonder the EPA states that geo-thermal energy is considered to be the most cost effective, energy efficient and environmentally clean energy source.

geothermal