Understanding Geothermal and Solar Power: Renewable Energy Sources

1. What does the term “renewable” mean? Use your own words or a properly cited direct quote.

Renewable mean sources that can be renew continuously. Renewable energy is usually defined as energy which is gathered from resources that are replaced on a human period, like tides, wind, rain, sun, waves, and geothermal heat.

2. Which two renewable energy forms did you choose?

Geothermal and Solar power.

Geothermal

The Greek word for geo meant Earth whilst their word for thermal meant heat from the Earth. Geothermal energy is energy produced from the warmth of the Earth. The Earth’s center is so hot that it is molten and is a space of about 4000 miles. Heat in the middle of the Earth heats up the outer layers of rock called the mantle and conducts outwards. When such stone melts and becomes molten it's known as magma. Magma can reach below the earth’s surface. Rain water occasionally seeps down through cracks and geological fault lines becoming super warmed by the hot stone beneath. Part of the super-heated water rises back to the top of the Earth where it appears as hot springs as well as geysers.

Solar Energy

Solar is the Latin word for sun—a powerful source of energy that may be used to heat,

Geothermal energy is renewable energy because once water or steam can be used, it could be pumped back into the floor. Additionally, it is clean energy. Geothermal power plants, unlike, don't produce greenhouse gases that can be harmful to the atmosphere. Geothermal energy is easy on the neighborhood environment since the power plants usually do not require the clearing of large areas of land, mining like other energy sources or damming of rivers. It is cheap to use. The source of energy is liberated to work with after a geothermal system is installed and there are often low maintenance costs involved because the plants use very few moving parts. It also reduces a country's dependence on imported oil, which cannot be