Review of Related Literature

Geothermal energy is known to be a renewable source of energy. In this article, four different
studies and literature about geothermal energy will be presented. Then, they will be compared.

Scope and Delimitations

The main focus of this chapter is to understand the factors that influence geothermal energy
production and to understand the negative and positive effects of geothermal energy. This chapter will not
focus on how geothermal power plants are created. This will not focus on the geothermal energy
production of one country. Rather, it will focus on the geothermal energy production of the world as a
whole.

Related Studies
Geothermal Cost and Investment Factors. In this study, Kristjánsdóttir and Margeirsson(2012)
look at microeconomic and macroeconomic factors that affected geothermal energy by using data with a
sample of twenty-four countries from a study made by ABS Energy Research in 2009 and computing
using this data. The researchers concluded that gross domestic product and remittance and compensation
of workers aid in the development of geothermal energy. They also found other factors that negatively
affect the development of geothermal energy like quality of infrastructure.

Geothermal Electricity Generation, Challenges, Opportunities and Recommendations.

Kabeyi(2019) stated that geothermal energy has been growing and will be growing even more. However,
the development of geothermal power is still expensive. To find a solution for these expenses, Kabeyi
made a study to determine a way to reduce the costs of the development of geothermal energy. After
examining data from various sources, the researcher concluded that social acceptance from the local
communities is crucial to the success of developing geothermal energy.

Environmental Impact of Geothermal Power Plant. According to Manish Navriya, Piyush

Agarwal, Jobin Thomas, and Devendra Kumar Doda(2019), geothermal energy is an energy source that is
clean, renewable and environmentally benign. However, it changes the terrain, disrupts the lives of plants,
causes great amounts of noise, and causes water pollution. The table below is a list of water pollutants and
how much of them are put into water.

Table 1. Constituents of Water Pollution from Geothermal Energy

Constituent Increment in Water Constituent Increment in Water
 Concentration(ppm) Concentration(ppm)

B 0.28 Cl 20.9

Li 0.14 Br 0.0556

Na 13 I 0.0048

K 1.7 NH4+ 0.0012

Rb 0.028 SO 0.25

Mg 4.7 x 10^-5 Hg 1.5 x 10^-8

Ca 0.15 Silica 6.4

F 0.0756

Global Renewable Energy Resources and Use in 2050. The first geothermal electric plant was
built in Italy. About a century later, millions of geothermal electric plants were installed. Because the
geothermal electricity output has been linear for the past three to four decades, Patrick Moriarty and
Damon Honnery(2019, p. 11) concluded that the installed capacity of geothermal energy will grow to
20,000 MW in 2050.

Correlation and Comparison of the Studies

All four studies are quantitative. Most of the studies show that geothermal energy is hard to
develop due to the high investment costs of establishing geothermal electric plants. Most of them show
that geothermal energy is improving and emits less carbon dioxide than non-renewable energy sources.
Although most of the studies show the potential of the further development of geothermal energy,
not all of them show the negative effects of geothermal energy like the changes in the ground and the
water pollution that it causes.

References:

Moriarty, P., & Honnery, D. (2019). Global renewable energy resources and use in 2050 (Master's thesis,
Monash University, 2019). London: Elsevier.
Kristjánsdóttir, H., & Margeirsson, Á. (2012). Geothermal Cost and Investment Factors. In
Comprehensive Renewable Energy (Vol. 7, pp. 259-270). Oxford: Elsevier.
Navriya, M., Agarwal, P., Thomas, J., & Doda, D. (2019). Environmental Impact of Geothermal Power
Plant [Abstract]. International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development, 3(3), 140-143.
doi:https://doi.org/10.31142/ijtsrd21663
Kabeyi, M. (2019). Geothermal Electricity Generation, Challenges, Opportunities and Recommendations.
International Journal of Advances in Scientific Research and Engineering, 5(8), 53-95.
doi:10.31695/IJASRE.2019.33408