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Wall Street Journal: Geothermal one of the most efficient sources of electricity

Wall Street Journal: Geothermal one of the most efficient sources of electricity Reykjanes geothermal power plant of HS Orka, Iceland (source: flickr/ ThinkGeoEnergy, creative commons)
Francisco Rojas 19 Sep 2014

The WSJ cites a report from Energy Points where all mainstream energy generation methods are compared and evaluated according to several factors. Geothermal comes second to wind power regarding energy efficiency.

In a recent blog psot in the Wall Street Journal, the most common energy producing techniques are compared and geothermal comes on second place accounting for one on the most efficient energy sources there are (See table bellow)

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The analysis is very complex and accounts for many factors, according to the same source. THE WSJ informs that the study was done by Energy Points, and in their report “Energy Points’ methodology measures environmental externalities and calculates the energy it takes to mitigate them. For example, it quantifies the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that result from turning coal and natural gas into electricity and then calculates the energy it would take to mitigate those emissions through carbon capture and sequestration. Water scarcity and contamination are quantified as the energy that is required to durably supply water to that area.”

In the case of renewables and geothermal, CO2 emmissions are minimal, fuel costs are non existent and other negative impacts are very small when compared to fossil fuels or nuclear.

To read the full article, please follow the link below:

Source: Wall Street Journal Website