At some 6,000 degrees Celsius (11,000 degrees Fahrenheit), Earth’s core is about as hot as the sun. Though not comparable, even at 2,000 to 5,000 meters (6,500 to 16,000 feet) beneath the surface of the planet, it can be a scorching 60 to 200 C, while in volcanic regions, even surface temperatures can reach 400 degrees.
That makes for a lot of potential heat-based energy. Our ancestors were no strangers to the power of geothermal energy, as it is known. In the first century AD, Romans living in the western German cities now known as Aachen and Wiesbaden heated their houses and thermal baths with hot spring water. In New Zealand, the Maori people cooked their food using the Earth’s heat, and in 1904, geothermal energy was used to generate electricity in central Italy’s Larderello.
Enteq Technologies plc (LON:NTQ) develops and supplies equipment for Measurement, Logging and Geo-steering while drilling of wells for the Geothermal, Oil and Gas markets.
