Department of Defense (DOD) to Explore Geothermal Power Production

Currently, most of the US federal government departments are under pressure about the usage of renewable energy sources. Customarily, it is agriculture, interior and energy departments which come up with acknowledged green energy sources and usage, but this time it is the turn of Department of Defense (DOD) to talk about sustainability and going green.

Recently Army Corps of Engineers surveyed and identified hundreds of sites owned by DOD boasting colossal amount of geothermal energy. One such most latent source identified is the large number of oil and gas wells located in gulf coast regions in places such as Mississippi, Texas, Louisiana and Alabama. These wells produce one of the most potential sources of geothermal energy i.e. hot water.

Presently both the government and the private segments all over the US are trying out ways and means to exploit these wells for the production of clean geothermal energy which will be simple and cost effective instead of going through the rigmarole of initiating from the scratch. Also most of the oil well companies were splurging funds for the expulsion of hot water that was gushing out during oil extraction. Currently the hot water is used for the production of geothermal energy and supplementary income is earned.

At present the DOD possesses around 2 million acres of land with the potential of hot water at required depths to produce geothermal energy. It is estimated that DOD can easily generate around 926 GW of geothermal energy from its assets at East coast to the west. The generated power can be used for its personal purposes and the glut power can be retailed to utilities to create additional revenue.