Ambient - Natural condition of the environment at any given time.
Aquifer -Water-bearing stratum of permeable sand, rock, or gravel.
Baseload Plants -Electricity-generating units that are operated to meet the constant or
minimum load on the system. The cost of energy from such units is usually the lowest
available to the system./
Binary-Cycle Plant
A geothermal electricity generating plant employing a closed-loop heat exchange
system in which the heat of the geothermal fluid (the "primary fluid") is transferred to a
lower-boiling-point fluid (the "secondary" or "working" fluid), which is thereby vaporized
and used to drive a turbine/generator set.
Brine
A geothermal solution containing appreciable amounts of sodium chloride or other salts.
Cap Rocks
Rocks of low permeability that overlie a geothermal reservoir.
Cascading Heat
A process that uses a stream of geothermal hot water or steam to perform successive
tasks requiring lower and lower temperatures.
Condensate
Water formed by condensation of steam.
Condenser
Equipment that condenses turbine exhaust steam into condensate.
Cooling Tower
A structure in which heat is removed from hot condensate.
Crust
Earth's outer layer of rock. Also called the lithosphere.
District Heating
A type of direct use in which a utility system supplies multiple users with hot water or
steam from a central plant or well field.
Drilling
Boring into the Earth to access geothermal resources, usually with oil and gas drilling
equipment that has been modified to meet geothermal requirements.
Dry Steam
Very hot steam that doesn't occur with liquid.
Efficiency
The ratio of the useful energy output of a machine or other energy-converting plant to
the energy input.
Enhanced Geothermal Systems
Rock fracturing, water injection, and water circulation technologies to sweep heat from
the unproductive areas of existing geothermal fields or new fields lacking sufficient
production capacity.
Fault
A fracture or fracture zone in the Earth's crust along which slippage of adjacent Earth
material has occurred at some time.
Flash Steam
Steam produced when the pressure on a geothermal liquid is reduced. Also called
flashing.
Fumarole
A vent or hole in the Earth's surface, usually in a volcanic region, from which steam,
gaseous vapors, or hot gases issue.
Geothermal
Of or relating to the Earth's interior heat.
Geothermal Energy
The Earth's interior heat made available to man by extracting it from hot water or rocks.
Geothermal Gradient
The rate of temperature increase in the Earth as a function of depth. Temperature
increases an average of 1° Fahrenheit for every 75 feet in descent.
Geothermal Heat Pumps
Devices that take advantage of the relatively constant temperature of the Earth's
interior, using it as a source and sink of heat for both heating and cooling. When
cooling, heat is extracted from the space and dissipated into the Earth; when heating,
heat is extracted from the Earth and pumped into the space.
Geyser
A spring that shoots jets of hot water and steam into the air.
Geysers, The
A large geothermal steam field located north of San Francisco.
HDR
Hot dry rock. Subsurface geologic formations of abnormally high heat content that
contain little or no water.
Heat Exchanger
A device for transferring thermal energy from one fluid to another.
Heat Flow
Movement of heat from within the Earth to the surface, where it is dissipated into the
atmosphere, surface water, and space by radiation.
Hydrothermal Resource
Underground systems of hot water and/or steam.
Injection
The process of returning spent geothermal fluids to the subsurface. Sometimes referred
to as reinjection.
KGRA
Known Geothermal Resource Area. A region identified by the U.S. Geological Survey
as containing geothermal resources.
Kilowatt-Hour
The energy represented by 1 kilowatt of power consumed for a period of 1 hour, equal
to 3,413 Btus. Abbreviated kWh./
Load
The simultaneous demand of all customers required at any specified point in an electric
power system.
Magma
Molten rock within the Earth, from which igneous rock is formed by cooling.
Mantle
The Earth's inner layer of molten rock, lying beneath the Earth's crust and above the
Earth's core of liquid iron and nickel.
Multiplier Effect
The multiplier effect is sometimes called the ripple effect because a single expenditure
in an economy can have repercussions throughout the entire economy. The multiplier is
a measure of how much additional economic activity is generated from an initial
expenditure.
Peaking Plants
Electricity generating plants that are operated to meet the peak or maximum load on the
system. The cost of energy from such plants is usually higher than from baseload
plants.
Permeability
The capacity of a substance (such as rock) to transmit a fluid. The degree of
permeability depends on the number, size, and shape of the pores and/or fractures in
the rock and their interconnections. It is measured by the time it takes a fluid of standard
viscosity to move a given distance. The unit of permeability is the Darcy.
Plate Tectonics
A theory of global-scale dynamics involving the movement of many rigid plates of the
Earth's crust. Tectonic activity is evident along the margins of the plates where buckling,
grinding, faulting, and vulcanism occur as the plates are propelled by the forces of
deep-seated mantle convection currents. Geothermal resources are often associated
with tectonic activity, since it allows groundwater to come in contact with deep
subsurface heat sources.
Porosity
The ratio of the aggregate volume of pore spaces in rock or soil to its total volume,
usually stated as a percent.
Reservoir
A natural underground container of liquids, such as water or steam (or, in the petroleum
context, oil or gas).
Salinity
A measure of the quantity or concentration of dissolved salts in water.
Subsidence
A sinking of an area of the Earth's crust due to fluid withdrawal and pressure decline.
TDS
Total dissolved solids. Used to describe the amount of solid materials in water.
Thermal Gradient
The rate of increase or decrease in the Earth's temperature relative to depth.
Transmission Line
Structures and conductors that carry bulk supplies of electrical energy from power-
generating units.
Turbine
A bladed, rotating engine activated by the reaction or impulse, or both, of a directed
current of fluid. In electric power applications, such as geothermal plants, the turbine is
attached to and spins a generator to produce electricity.
Vapor-Dominated
A geothermal reservoir system in which subsurface pressures are controlled by vapor
rather than by liquid. Sometimes referred to as a dry-steam reservoir.
Well Logging
Assessing the geologic, engineering, and physical properties and characteristics of
geothermal reservoirs with instruments placed in the wellbore.
