There are a lot of advantages of geothermal energy that makes it a more feasible option compared to fuels and other sources. The biggest advantage of geothermal energy is that it's CLEAN. It allows energy to be extracted without burning fossil fuels like oil, coal or gas. It's estimated that compared to a fossil fuel plant, geothermal power plant releases only about 1 to 3 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions and 97 percent less acid rain. The environment remains almost intact, because after the water and how steam have been used, they are re-injected back into the earth.

Another serious advantage of geothermal energy is that it's available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The US Department of Energy has estimated that geothermal power plants have average availabilities of 90% or higher, compared to about 75% for coal plants. On top of all that, this power is homegrown, which means the United States of America is less dependent on foreign oil.

But the list of advantages of geothermal energy doesn't end here. It's a renewable energy source, because it uses the almost unlimited amount of heat generated by the Earth's core. As humanity is facing serious environmental problems like pollution and global warming, it's of vital importance that we switch to renewable energy sources, as soon as these become sufficiently sophisticated and cheaper. New technologies are to be introduced, reducing energy and raw material consumption (cellular phones, information storage and transfer on/through electronic media), rejection of heavy infrastructure, transport avoiding fossil fuels (bicycles, electric and other non-polluting cars, airships replacing airplanes, etc).

Geothermal technologies offer many environmental advantages compared to traditional power generation. As mentioned, the biggest one is that emissions are low, with the only excess being steam which is emitted by geothermal flash plants. No air emissions or liquids are discharged by binary geothermal plants, which the US Department of Energy plans to make the dominant technology in the near future. Salts and dissolved minerals contained in geothermal fluids are usually re-injected with excess water back into the reservoir at a depth well below groundwater aquifers. This recycles the geothermal water and replenishes the reservoir.

Of course there are advantages and disadvantages of geothermal energy. As a disadvantage can be taken the fact that it requires a substantial initial investment to build a geothermal power plant. Another disadvantage is that it can only be build on certain places with special characteristics. Search the web for more advantages disadvantages of geothermal energy.