Geothermal Engineering was once offered in Bicol University (BU) College of Engineering in Legazpi City, Philippines. Four years after the introduction to students, the course was frozen to upgrade it into a graduate program (Energy Technology) as embodied in BU ComDev Plan. Engr. Medel Aligan (who designed and proposed the diploma course on Energy Technology) foresees this excellent program as another stepping stone for the aspiring masteral degree holders.



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Friday, September 14, 2007

THE POWER OF GEOTHERMAL ENERGY

by lanilane ocbina

(EXCERPTS FROM Lanilane's blog) 

Pausukan na ang Gobyerno! weee

Did you know that Geothermal Energy is one of the cleanest, cheapest, and most available energy resources on earth? It might even become the solution to the imminent troubles from global warming.

Cleanest
Steam, which is the main raw material in the production of power, is extracted from hundreds of kilometers down the earth. When steam is taken out from a production well, it is directed into three distinct pipes: the two-phase line, the steam line, and the brine line. From the two-phase line, the steam enters a ‘separator’ which obviously separates the vapor from the liquid (as steam is not always purely vapor especially when it goes farther from the center of the earth, while pressure is significantly decreasing). The steam sets through the steam line while the liquid takes the brine line. The steam running through the steam line is the one used for power production. On the other hand, the liquid in the brine line is directed into another well to set the by-product of production back to the earth. Meaning, the brine (waste of the steam production) is REINJECTED back to where it came from (earth). NO WASTE AT ALL.

Cheap and most available
Geothermal energy is a renewable resource, meaning, it is used and reused since it is naturally replenished. A lot of fuel forms are non- renewable since they are used and lost as soon as they undergo power production. Not like fuels, Geothermal energy is available anywhere and can be exploited anytime.

The Philippines is one of the “not so rich” nations in the world but don’t you know that this country is the second largest producer of Geothermal power in the whole world, next to US? I think the government should be considering this as a great asset for augmenting the status of our economy.

I am happy to say that I personally know the importance and real use of geothermal energy. Don’t you know that this renewable energy resource is not just up for power production?

Way back in college, we wished that our Project studies were given higher level of consideration from the government since we had bright ideas about using geothermal steam for other industrial projects, afar from power production.

Remember that the brine (geothermal waste) running down the brine line is still conveyed at high temperature. Using up the heat from the pipe was the major objective on our studies. A lot of industries can be established using such heat, as one great example is drying.

Some of my classmates presented great ideas like putting up a hot swimming pool, a drying plant, and more. We can even have a spa near the geothermal plant if we want to. I and my partner studied about chicken dressing using geothermal brine heat. I can say that it is feasible. If only the government knows these things, hay… go to site

Posted by geothermalengineering at 3:35 pm | permalink | comments[40]