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With more than 20 active volcanoes and more than 40 potential volcanoes, the Philippines can develop steam power as a major contributor to the national energy mix.
Some geologists risk their lives working on volcanoes, sometimes needing to conduct experiments inside active volcanoes, which include collecting samples of rock, water and gas, for testing. on the website parameters such as mud water boiling temperature, recording phenomena such as sulfur gas and carbon emissions, and analyzing the condition of ground fractures and faults.
They are doing this with the aim of trying to understand the behavior of the volcano, which would ultimately contribute significantly to efforts to reduce risk, reduce disaster risks and prepare. Others, however, study volcanoes, whether active or not, for the purpose of assessing their potential steam energy.
Caused by war energy crisis currently witnessed around the world only highlights the importance of using renewable energy sources such as radiation from the sun (solar energy), wind power (windmills), weathering of water in rivers (electric power), and heat from the “bowels of the earth” or more technically called geothermal (geo-arth, thermal-heat), among others.
The location of the Philippines near the equator and the presence of many geological systems that produce volcanoes make the Philippines a country. better arrangement developing solar and geothermal energy sources.
Volcanoes and geothermal energy
Volcanoes occur when molten rock, or magma, rises to the surface. Magma can come from several tectonic systems, including by subduction (when one tectonic plate dives under another, by the rifting of the continent and the spreading of the oceans), when two plates are separated from each other, or when there is a constant source of heat under the earth called a fireplace. The Hawaiian Islands and the Yellowstone Caldera in the northwest of the United States are the result of volcanic eruptions, while volcanoes in East Africa such as Kenya and Ethiopia are caused by eruptions.
Most of the submarine volcanoes of the East Pacific Rise and Atlantic Ridge system are formed by oceanic spreading, while island volcanoes such as Japan, New Zealand, Indonesia and the Philippines are formed mostly by subduction.
When groundwater is heated by rising magma or nearby hot rocks, it moves more, especially when the underlying rocks are permeable. Permeability is often a function of the degree to which the rock is fractured by normals and faults.
Faults are often feared by many, as they are associated with severe earthquakes. But anomalies are what geothermal energy explorers look for in prospects, along with the surrounding hot fluids. When magma or igneous rocks, faults and groundwater are present, a geothermal system is formed.
Hot water can be pumped through controlled pipes dug into the ground, with their vapor pressure combined to drive turbines that can eventually generate electricity. As long as Earth’s evolution continues, volcano-forming processes such as subduction, rifting, oceanic spreading and volcanic plumes will continue to operate.
And even though those processes are working, the heat given off by the magma from deep below the earth will continue to exist. In this sense and at this level, geothermal heat as a source of energy is unlimited and independent of atmospheric conditions such as sunlight (solar power) and wind power (windmills).
Develop more geothermal plants
Geothermal sources currently account for only about 10% of the Philippines’ energy mix, while coal – an environmentally unfriendly source – remains the main contributor, while other renewable sources are shared mainly by hydro, solar and wind power.
But with more than 20 active volcanoes, more than 40 potentially active volcanoes and hundreds of young geological volcanic centers, the Philippines has great potential to develop geothermal energy to become a major contributor to the national energy mix.
If planned properly and with adequate government support, the Philippines may be able to regain its position as the world’s second largest geothermal producer by megawatt capacity, after losing the position to Indonesia several years ago. – Rappler.com
Mario A. Aurelio, PhD is a professor at the National Institute of Geological Sciences – University of the Philippines (UP NIGS). With his team at the Structures Geology and Tectonics Laboratory (SGT) of UP-NIGS, he conducts research on the importance of geological structures such as faults in the development of geothermal systems..
