2010 Feb 28
ALAMOSA — The mention of alternative energy in the San Luis Valley may cause most people to look skyward toward the sun that's led government and business officials to tout solar power.
But a group of state officials, business owners and the just plain curious sat down Saturday to talk about a resource beneath their feet at a geothermal workshop hosted by the Governor's Energy Office.
Geothermal energy comes from harnessing the earth's subsurface heat. And in the valley's case, direct use of that heat has come through the harvesting of hot water to heat buildings, greenhouses and, most famously, keep alligators alive in sub-zero temperatures.
Nearly 150 million acre-feet of water, much of it hot, sits beneath the valley in the confined aquifer, the deeper of the valley's two major groundwater formations.
Paul Morgan, senior geothermal geologist with the Colorado Geological Survey, said the state was gifted with a high heat flow. That characterization included the Rio Grande Rift, the geological formation that runs beneath much of its namesake river, but Morgan said there is not a lot of specific data about the resource in the area.
"We don't know a lot about most of the San Luis Basin," he said.
What is known suggests that hot water at a temperature of 200 degrees Fahrenheit can be found in most parts of the valley at about 5,000 feet below the surface.
Read more: http://chieftain.com/articles/2010/02/28/news/local/doc4b89fe9bec78e291434993.txt
Want to help with Global-Warming? Please visit http://www.whiteearth.org
Want to read more about Global-Warming? Please visit http://www.christopherbeau.com
Please become a fan of the Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/WhiteEarthorg/119367692642 and http://www.facebook.com/pages/WhiteEarth/165767310764
Become a friend on Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/christopherbeau
Follow me on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/christopherbeau
Become a follower of this blog
When you buy art on http://www.artsymphony.com 100% of your investment goes to sponsor WhiteEarth
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment