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Product Description:
This up-to-date and comprehensive electronic book on CD-ROM provides the finest collection of official federal documents available anywhere on the subject of geothermal energy. Geothermal energy technologies use the heat of the earth for direct-use applications, geothermal heat pumps, and electrical power production. Research in all areas of geothermal development is helping to lower costs and expand its use. In the United States, most geothermal resources are concentrated in the West, but geothermal heat pumps can be used nearly anywhere. Every aspect of geothermal energy is covered:

Exploration - Geological, geochemical, and geophysical techniques are used to locate geothermal resources. * Drilling for geothermal resources has been adapted from the oil industry. Improved drill bits, slimhole drilling, advanced instruments, and other drilling technologies are under development. * Direct Use - Geothermal hot water near the Earth's surface can be used directly for heating buildings and as a heat supply for a variety of commercial and industrial uses. Geothermal direct use is particularly favored for greenhouses and aquaculture. * Geothermal heat pumps, or ground-source heat pumps, use the relatively constant temperature of soil or surface water as a heat source and sink for a heat pump, which provides heating and cooling for buildings. * Electricity Production Underground reservoirs of hot water or steam, heated by an upwelling of magma, can be tapped for electrical power production. * Advanced technologies will help manage geothermal resources for maximum power production, improve plant operating efficiencies, and develop new resources such as hot dry rock, geopressured brines, and magma. * Geothermal technologies release little or no air emissions. Geothermal power production produces much lower air emissions than conventional energy technologies. Resources In the United States, geothermal resources are concentrated in the West, although low-temperature resources can also be found in the rest of the country. Geothermal heat pumps can be used nearly anywhere.

GeoPowering the West is a commitment to dramatically increase the use of geothermal energy in the western United States - $250 Million Power Plant for Idaho; Nevada / Idaho / New Mexico. By demonstrating the benefits of geothermal energy, GeoPowering the West increases state and regional awareness of opportunities to enhance local economies and strengthen our nation's energy security while minimizing environmental impact. By identifying barriers to development and working with others to eliminate them, GeoPowering the West helps a state or region create a regulatory and economic environment that is more favorable for geothermal and other renewable energy development. Geothermal energy represents a major economic opportunity for the American West, an area characterized by a steadily increasing population that requires reliable sources of heat and power. GeoPowering the West is pursuing this opportunity by: Bringing together national, state and local stakeholders for state-sponsored geothermal development workshops; Working with public power companies and rural electric cooperatives to promote use of geothermal power; Promoting increased federal use of geothermal energy; Helping American Indians identify and develop geothermal resources on tribal lands; and Sponsoring non-technical educational workshops.

In all, this CD-ROM has over 20,000 pages reproduced using Adobe Acrobat PDF software - allowing direct viewing on Windows and Apple Macintosh systems. Reader software is included on the CD.

Our news and educational discs are privately compiled collections of official public domain U.S. government files and documents - they are not produced by the federal government. They are designed to provide a convenient user-friendly reference work, utilizing the benefits of the Adobe Acrobat format to uniformly present thousands of pages that can be rapidly reviewed, searc