Geothermal Resources Council - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

What is Geothermal?

Geothermal literally means "earth heat." Areas where energy can be tapped due to high heat flow in the top 5 km of the Earth's crust are considered geothermal.

Geothermal is one of the least recognized renewable energy resources, and as such, is significantly underutilized in the US despite being the only base load

Base load power plant

Baseload is the minimum amount of power that a utility or distribution company must make available to its customers, or the amount of power required to meet minimum demands based on reasonable expectations of customer requirements...

renewable power source, exclusive of hydroelectric

Hydroelectricity

Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...

, available 24 hours per day.

Geothermal energy constitutes an indigenous, sustainable, continuous, base load renewable resource available to power developers on most continents.

About the Geothermal Resources Council

The Geothermal Resources Council (GRC) is a tax-exempt, nonprofit organization

Nonprofit organization

Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

, educational association 501(c) organization. Formed in 1970, the GRC was incorporated in the state of Washington in 1972, and in California in 1981.

With members in over 30 countries, the GRC is a professional educational association for the international geothermal

Geothermal power

Geothermal energy is thermal energy generated and stored in the Earth. Thermal energy is the energy that determines the temperature of matter. Earth's geothermal energy originates from the original formation of the planet and from radioactive decay of minerals...

community.

Goals

Encourage worldwide development of geothermal resources through the collection and timely distribution of data and technological information.
Promote research, exploration and development of geothermal energy in ways compatible with the environment
Sustainable energy
Sustainable energy is the provision of energy that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Sustainable energy sources include all renewable energy sources, such as hydroelectricity, solar energy, wind energy, wave power, geothermal...

.
Serve as a public forum for the world geothermal community, providing transfer of objective and unbiased information on the nature of geothermal resources and techniques of geothermal development.
Cooperate with national and international academic institutions, industry and government agencies to encourage economically and environmentally sound development and utilization of geothermal resources.

Annual Meetings

GRC Annual Meetings are an important yearly event in the geothermal world, providing an international forum where members, participants and guests learn about the latest advances in geothermal technologies through technical and poster sessions. The conference includes field trips and workshops, provides meaningful and enjoyable social interaction that promotes friendships and collaboration within the international geothermal community.

The companion trade show offers the opportunity to learn about the latest in geothermal equipment and services while forming important business contacts.

A convenient searchable CD Transactions offers most technical papers presented at GRC Annual Meetings, which are convened on a rotating basis in Reno, Nevada, and in San Diego, California—with alternate cities chosen by the Board of Directors to enhance domestic and international relations.

Publications

The GRC publishes a periodical Bulletin (6 issues per year), which features articles on technical topics and geothermal development issues, as well as commentaries and news briefs. The Bulletin is provided free to GRC members and is available to non-members by subscription.

In addition, the GRC publishes an annual Membership Roster and Registry of Geothermal Services & Equipment, a unique publication that provides business, consulting and research contacts throughout the international geothermal community.

With financial assistance from private and/or government institutions, the GRC has published a number of Special Reports about various aspects of geothermal resources and development. As noted above, the GRC Transactions contain most technical papers presented at GRC Annual Meetings.

Library

The GRC maintains a comprehensive geothermal technical library at its offices in Davis, California, and on its website at: geothermal.org

The GRC Geothermal Research Library offers title and author citations for more than 30,000 papers, articles, books and other geothermal energy publications, updated on a regular basis.

For its members, online library offers thousands of GRC-copyrighted technical papers from Transactions, Special Reports and the Bulletin as downloadable PDF files.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.