Annotated Bibliography

Is Geothermal Energy a Viable, Sustainable, and Cost-Effective Means of Energy Production?

AJ Rutherford

Professor Malcolm Campbell

UWRT 1103-HO4

October 17, 2019

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Annotated Bibliography

Rocco, Anthony. ​2016 Geothermal Power: International Market Update. ​Geothermal Energy

Association, Oct. 2016,

http://geo-energy.org/reports/2016/2016%20International%20Development%20Interim%

20Report.pdf​. Accessed 16 Oct. 2019.

This report shows the specific uses of geothermal energy around the globe and its plans

for expansion. It first shows some highlights of the five years before 2016 with some

notable improvements and expansions around the world. The report then goes on to show

the projected amount of energy that is to be produced by geothermal energy in the near

future. In-depth information about regional production values is given. This source is

applicable because it proves the effectiveness of geothermal energy, and it shows the fast

expansion of geothermal energy around the world. Specific values of production numbers

and energy production are given for different plants in countries around the world.

Looking at these numbers and projections gives the reader a sense of what geothermal

production will look like in the future. There is an exponential increase in the amount of

power produced by these plants over the past decades. The Geothermal Energy

Association (GEA) was the leading producer of this report. They are an association that

has many articles and reports on the improvement of geothermal energy, and up until

recently, they were the leading association regarding the acceleration of geothermal

energy. They are shutting down, but their duties are being taken over by the Geothermal

Resources Council (GRC). Although they are discontinuing their services, the GEA has

stockpiles of information regarding geothermal energy, and the GRC taking over
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continues that build-up of reports and information. The report cited is the most recent

major report done by a big organization and is therefore still applicable and relevant. I

will be using this source to highlight the exponential growth that geothermal energy has

been going through recently, and it will be used as a source for many different statistics

specific to different countries and regions.

Setiawan, Felix, et al. “Kinetics of Silica Precipitation in Geothermal Brine With Seeds

Addition: Minimizing Silica Scaling in a Cold Re-injection System.” ​Geothermal Energy

- Science, Society, and Technology, v​ ol. 7, article 22. ​SpringerOpen​,

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40517-019-0138-3​. Accessed 16 Oct. 2019.

This journal article talks about solutions for silica deposits clogging up tubes in

geothermal energy systems, otherwise known as scaling. This entry describes the

potential of geothermal energy and emphasizes the fact that they have only tapped less

than 5% of this energy in Indonesia, which is where Setiawan and his associates are

located. The solution proposed to fix this problem of buildups involves putting silica gel

seeds into the pipes. These seeds broke down and dissolved a large portion of the brine

buildup during their tests. Silica buildup is one of the biggest problems with geothermal

energy and its sustainability. When this buildup occurs, it clogs up the pipes used to

transport the water and steam resulting in expensive repairs. This source is very current

as it was published in August of this year and highlights a very important issue, also

making it applicable to my research paper. ​Geothermal Energy – Science, Society, and

Technology i​ s a journal devoted to furthering research in geothermal energy. They

recognize that geothermal energy is going to be a very big producer of energy in the near
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future, and their goal is to find solutions to the many problems involved with this energy

source. Research, experiments, and focused studies are all included in this journal. The

head writer and researcher, Felix Arie Setiawan, has a masters in engineering and focuses

on chemical engineering and teaches that subject at the University of Jember. I will be

using this source to talk about the biggest systematic problem related to geothermal

energy, which is the pipes clogging up. This article will be used to show the most recent

progress that has been made with solving this major and expensive issue.

Yee, Amy. “Geothermal Energy Grows in Kenya.” ​The New York Times​, The New York Times,

23 Feb. 2018,

www.nytimes.com/2018/02/23/business/geothermal-energy-grows-in-kenya.html​.

Accessed 16 Oct. 2019.

This article talks about the implementation and growth of geothermal energy into Kenya.

Geothermal energy makes up 74% of energy production for Kenya and that number is

continuing to rise. This article highlights the effectiveness of this form of energy as a

form of economic growth in an area in desperate need of renewable energy. Kenya is a

very good example of a location that has a high potential for geothermal power. It is also

a good example of some of the difficulties that go along with geothermal power plants

including problems like high cost and retaliation because of environmental problems.

Their government wants to try to reach universal access to energy by 2020 which is

extremely ambitious, but when you realize that “the electrification rate is hovering

around 5 percent even though 84 percent of unconnected households are within 200

meters of a connection point” it does not sound that far off. The writer, Amy Yee, is a
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very very experienced and renowned writer. She has done many articles covering many

different subjects under a few different companies; this article was published by ​The New

York Times. ​She has done extensive research and reporting on environmental issues

giving her writing on geothermal energy credibility. This article, posted in February of

2018, is very current and highlights some important and current issues faced with

geothermal energy. I will use this source to show examples of a couple of problems with

geothermal energy like the high cost and possible environmental hazards. I will also use

this to prove that it is effective, and it can help improve the economic standing of nations.
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Noah Comments:

Header font

Talk about the usefulness of the sources

commas

Rolando Comment:

Fix indentation

Center title in the cover page

Commas

Grammar and commas