geothermal energy
There is not too much information about geothermal energy which from what i do know, (not much,) seems to be the most effective way of decreasing oil use. This would also solve the food crisis which is beginning to ravage the world. let food be food and let us get heat and energy from the earth-renewable energy at that.
What companies do you know of that are involved or look interesting in this field?
Answers
951 points
Grudun answered one year ago …
Geothermal energy is a great renewable energy source that is used effectively in some areas(Iceland uses it to produce the majority of its hot water and electricity). Investing in it is another matter. There is often resistance to new geothermal plants in the U.S. from evironmental groups(don't want to ruin the interesting looking hot springs/hot pots/geysers) and regularly from native americans(quite a few sites are considered "sacred" to different tribes). This creates problems and volitility in geothermal pure plays(will the site be approved or not) and most larger companies with geothermal(i.e. GE), the percentage of the company is so small it has little effect on the stock. Doing a basic seach on Yahoo! came up with the following public companies(NOTE I DON"T RECOMMEND ANY AT THIS TIME I HAVE DONE NO RESEARCH ON ANY OF THESE): NGP.V, SRA.V, PGTHF.PK and SRAGF.PK. Notice that none of these is on a major exchange making them extremely risky.
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2775 points
Oldman answered one year ago …
A few others are connected to geothermal: ORA (Ormat, an Israeli company), RZ (Raser) a module developer with UTX (United Technologies) which has conversion units for thermal to electric onsite; Calpine (not certain of symbol, because it emerged from bankruptcy about 2 yrs ago), and is in the $20.00 range now, which sells electricity in CA. There are three problems with geothermal: geography, stability (I'm not talking economics here) and infrastructural costs:
Geography. The geo thermal sources are magma sites heating ground water. They're active in the Western U.S., and other places on the Earth's mantle, where plate subduction is occurring or tectonics allows heat to rise, and on volcanic sites ...which leads to ---
Stability, the structures are built on shaky land... From turbine housings to transmission lines, the geothermal sites are seismically active. In Iceland, the premier geothermal user in the world, lots of repair and replacement costs are part of the utility rates...currently that's cheaper than coal or gas or oil, but when a mud slide (a HOT one) takes out the service road, or a miniquake loosens the mounts of the hot water transport system to the city pool, it's a big cost.
Finally, transmission costs...O.K., the steam vent is powering your turbine, some place in Yellowstone's NE caldera, and it's "free" electric power...but now you have to get endless permits for HV transmission lines across NIMBY towns and farms {NIMBY="not in my backyard, as in nuclear waste dumps and prisons), in order for the electricity to be "utilized"..Perhaps we'll see the ultimate boondoggle there as the power from Yellowstone's next eruption will be siphoned off to release oil locked in Western oil-shale ... would make a fine B-movie for the SciFi channel.
989 points
rvilmur answered one year ago …
One company that is concentrated in geothermal power is HTM (U.S. Geothermal Inc) which operates a site in Idaho that went operational late last year. They have a long term contract to sell power to an Idaho electric utility. This company is looking to expand operations and could have a good future. Yahoo has a 1 year price goal of $5 with a current price of $2.55.
I think that Oldman is a bit too pessimistic here. The Geysers site in California has been delivering power for decades.
2775 points
Oldman answered one year ago …
Today (05/12/08) at
http://seekingalpha.com/aricle/76811
there is an article by George Gorski: "Geothermal Energy Sources 101"
which describes dozens of companies, and their symbols, that are in this business.
904 points
jillybeansisme answered one year ago …
Although I am not making a recommendation, I can tell you UGTH is another company.
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ChuckS answered one year ago …
Geothermal has advanced. They can now drill down to the heat anywhere. United Geothermal (now HTM on AMEX, previously UGTH OTC) is gong down about 6000 feet to get 280 degrees F. Here in Minnesota, it's about 212 degrees at 3.7 miles down, so it's preferable to find the right spot where you don't have to go down too far.
One technique is to go down where it's well above boiling and dump water down the hole, then use the steam to generate electricity. This can also be used to heat buildings. Another one is to dig 2 holes. Pump water down one and up the other. Another thing called geothermal is to run pipes several feet underground to cool air conditioning systems and the like.
237 points
josephconlin answered one year ago …
In the vein of using the pipes several feet underground to control home temperatures, one company doing that is WFI Industries Ltd. (TSX WFI). No endorsement here, just a link to their website. http://waterfurnace.com/
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