UNDERGROUND FURNACES: The Story of Geothermal Energy

The earth's ""hot spots"" or geothermal reservoirs have been known and utilized for centuries; now, for the first time, their potential as a major energy source is being taken seriously. Although geothermal plants exist in Iceland, Italy, and California, the author acknowledges that the methods she outlines would still be prohibitively expensive in most places today--and she warns against pollution hazards from hydrogen sulfide and the boron- and mercury-contaminated water which is a waste product of geothermal steam. Kiefer, long a writer of scientific articles for Smithsonian, gives easy but authoritative explanations of how four kinds of ""hot spots"" are formed and how they can be transformed into usable energy. This alternative resource, and its attendant problems, is sure to be much more discussed in the next few years (the government started selling prospecting rights in 1974) and this elementary introduction could give technology-minded readers a head start.