Government expands geothermal energy leasing

[machI]

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=41242&dcn=todaysnews

WASHINGTON - The Interior Department plans to make available 190 million acres of federal land in a dozen Western U.S. states for development of geothermal energy projects -- a move that could produce enough electricity for 5 million homes.

He said it is estimated that the available leases could produce enough energy to generate 5,540 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 5.5 million homes. Geothermal energy also can be used directly for heating buildings.

But the new plan calls for making more federal land available for such projects. Kempthorne said the new leases could begin to produce significant amounts of power by 2015.

This is all well and good, but I rarely see estimates on how much energy (oil based fuel) is going to be expended building the infrastructure to extract the Geothermal Energy. They tell us production will begin in 2015, but how long will it be until the project produces enough clean energy to offset the petro energy burned getting there?

[madokie]

1. So what do you suggest?

"This is all well and good, but I rarely see estimates on how much energy (oil based fuel) is going to be expended building the infrastructure to extract the Geothermal Energy. They tell us production will begin in 2015, but how long will it be until the project produces enough clean energy to offset the petro energy burned getting there?"

[machI]

2. I don't have enough information to even begin making suggestions

I am looking for advise on how to get more information about the economics driving alternate energy sources.

I want to participate in bringing renewable energy to forefront, but I want to be in an economically viable technology.

[kristopher]

3. What sort of advice?

And in what way do you intend to participate; as an entrepreneur (ex. a developer, a small business owner), a researcher, an engineer etc.?

And what type of background do you have in energy?

In general, one good place for an interested layperson to start is with the trade associations of the various technologies. For example, here is a list of publications by the Geothermal Energy Association.
http://www.geo-energy.org/publications/reports.asp

Industry information is good for getting a grasp of what the state of the technology is, but care should be exercised about broad claims in comparison to other technologies. Use their papers as starting points for research rather than as a final word.

As to economic viability, that is very much a product of case by case analysis of technologies as they are applied under different circumstances so it really isn't possible to make too many broad generalizations. For example, in my neighborhood, the Public Service Commission just accepted bids for new power generation in the local area. Coal, natural gas and wind all submitted bids. Wind won. Of course, that doesn't mean that coal and natural gas aren't economically viable, it just means that wind fit the particular project profile best.

[machI]

4. Thank you for the Geothermal energy link, I have it book marked for reference

The article I posted stated a source of Geothermal energy will be tapped and producing useful energy in 2015. I know to start from scratch and build the means to extract that energy is going to take an investment.

What I would like to know is if there is an organization that objectively analyzes how much it costs to get to the break even point, where the value of the energy exceeds the value of the investment. But if that is not hard enough, I would also like some type of measure on how much carbon dioxide do we have to put into the atmosphere before we start getting energy back out at a much lower level of carbon dioxide emission.

I would like to evaluate programs not by how much money they cost before money is made, but by how much environmental capital is expended before the environment can be improved.

[kristopher]

5. OK

For a financial analysis, the best data comes from companies planning a project; but it is usually proprietary. You might find it in filings with utility oversight agencies when a company files for permits to build. Check out the academic journals for the other stuff. For example, the journal Energy Policy Volume 36, Issue 11, Pages 4009-4298 (November 2008) is a special edition titled: Transition towards Sustainable Energy Systems.

This and other journals are probably available at your local university library. If you aren't affiliated with a school, you can often join for a small yearly fee which may include online access. Academic researchers generally provide the most "objective" data available and they do work on the type of problem you are describing. A good sample of what you're looking for in this type of analysis was done for wind by Paul Denholm and is titled "Emissions and Energy Efficiency Assessment of Baseload Wind Energy Systems. (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2005, 39, 1903-1911 )

Just for reference, here is a list of the contents from the journal Energy Policy. I'm afraid I just did a cut and paste, so the title of each article is buried in the second line of each entry:

2. You are entitled to access the full text of this document
Transitions to sustainable energy systems—Introduction to the energy policy special issue
Pages 4009-4011
Reinhard Haas, Jim Watson, Wolfgang Eichhammer
Open Preview PDF (98 K) | Related Articles
3. You are entitled to access the full text of this document
Towards sustainability of energy systems: A primer on how to apply the concept of energy services to identify necessary trends and policies
Pages 4012-4021
Reinhard Haas, Nebojsa Nakicenovic, Amela Ajanovic, Thomas Faber, Lukas Kranzl, Andreas Müller, Gustav Resch
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4. You are entitled to access the full text of this document
The household energy transition in India and China
Pages 4022-4035
Shonali Pachauri, Leiwen Jiang
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Renewable and nuclear power: A common future?
Pages 4036-4047
Aviel Verbruggen
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Potentials and prospects for renewable energies at global scale
Pages 4048-4056
Gustav Resch, Anne Held, Thomas Faber, Christian Panzer, Felipe Toro, Reinhard Haas
Open Preview PDF (1575 K) | Related Articles
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Scenarios for the evolution of the Spanish electricity sector: Is it on the right path towards sustainability?
Pages 4057-4068
P. Linares, F.J. Santos, I.J. Pérez-Arriaga
Open Preview PDF (518 K) | Related Articles
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Externalities of the transport sector and the role of hydrogen in a sustainable transport vision
Pages 4069-4078
Claus Doll, Martin Wietschel
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European renewable energy policy at crossroads—Focus on electricity support mechanisms
Pages 4079-4092
Doerte Fouquet, Thomas B. Johansson
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Restructuring energy systems for sustainability? Energy transition policy in the Netherlands
Pages 4093-4103
Florian Kern, Adrian Smith
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Key policy considerations for facilitating low carbon technology transfer to developing countries
Pages 4104-4115
David G. Ockwell, Jim Watson, Gordon MacKerron, Prosanto Pal, Farhana Yamin
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Accelerating the transition to sustainable energy systems
Pages 4116-4125
Michael Jefferson
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Energy sustainable communities: Environmental psychological investigations
Pages 4126-4135
Petra Schweizer-Ries
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Public acceptance of renewable energies: Results from case studies in Germany
Pages 4136-4141
Jan Zoellner, Petra Schweizer-Ries, Christin Wemheuer
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Regular papers
Viewpoints
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Hybrid solution and pump-storage optimization in water supply system efficiency: A case study
Pages 4142-4148
F. Vieira, H.M. Ramos
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China's oil reserve forecast and analysis based on peak oil models
Pages 4149-4153
Lianyong Feng, Junchen Li, Xiongqi Pang
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Climate policy and the social cost of power generation: Impacts of the Swedish national emissions target
Pages 4154-4158
Patrik Söderholm, Fredrik Pettersson
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Papers
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How to make a European integrated market in small and isolated electricity systems? The case of the Canary Islands
Pages 4159-4167
Yannick Perez, Francisco Javier Ramos Real
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Utility payments in Ukraine: Affordability, subsidies and arrears
Pages 4168-4177
Samuel Fankhauser, Yulia Rodionova, Elisabetta Falcetti
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Excess heat from kraft pulp mills: Trade-offs between internal and external use in the case of Sweden—Part 1: Methodology
Pages 4178-4185
Inger-Lise Svensson, Johanna Jönsson, Thore Berntsson, Bahram Moshfegh
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Excess heat from kraft pulp mills: Trade-offs between internal and external use in the case of Sweden—Part 2: Results for future energy market scenarios
Pages 4186-4197
Johanna Jönsson, Inger-Lise Svensson, Thore Berntsson, Bahram Moshfegh
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Germany's solar cell promotion: Dark clouds on the horizon
Pages 4198-4204
Manuel Frondel, Nolan Ritter, Christoph M. Schmidt
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Modelling the costs of non-conventional oil: A case study of Canadian bitumen
Pages 4205-4216
Aurélie Méjean, Chris Hope
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Public perceptions of opportunities for community-based renewable energy projects
Pages 4217-4226
J.C. Rogers, E.A. Simmons, I. Convery, A. Weatherall
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Price formation and market power in the German wholesale electricity market in 2006
Pages 4227-4234
Hannes Weigt, Christian von Hirschhausen
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Some economics of seasonal gas storage
Pages 4235-4246
Corinne Chaton, Anna Creti, Bertrand Villeneuve
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Data envelopment analysis with uncertain data: An application for Iranian electricity distribution companies
Pages 4247-4254
S.J. Sadjadi, H. Omrani
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The world per capita electricity consumption distribution: Signs of convergence?
Pages 4255-4261
Adolfo Maza, José Villaverde
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A decline rate study of Norwegian oil production
Pages 4262-4271
Mikael Höök, Kjell Aleklett
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The fundamentals of the future international emissions trading system
Pages 4272-4286
Loreta Stankeviciute, Alban Kitous, Patrick Criqui
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[machI]

6. Thank you. I see that I am asking for quite a bit

It is going to take a lot of research to find the information I am interested in, but I appreciate you taking the time to help me.