Canada's federal Geological Survey Commission has released a report stating that the country's geothermal resources are so vast that they could power the country one million times over.

Heavy concentrations of geothermal stores near the surface in the Northern and Western parts of Canada (including British Columbia, Alberta, the Yukon and Northwest Territories) are the stars of the new report, though resources exist across the country.  A team of scientists from the agency said that as little as 100 projects could completely power the country while generating very few greenhouse gas emissions.

Geothermal has its downsides, like high upfront costs and long construction times because of the tricky nature of drilling miles into the earth, but once a geothermal plant is operational, the energy is practically unlimited and -- unlike wind and solar -- constant.

Countries like Iceland, Indonesia and St. Lucia have started relying on and even exporting energy from their large geothermal resources.  Canada could easily be next.

via Montreal Gazette

A geothermal plant on Hawaii's Big Island is providing 20% of that islands electricity needs, with additional capacity in the works.

The Puna Geothermal Venture is run by Ormat Technologies and is located in the Mt. Kilauea East Rift zone.  The plant has five wells that bring up 650-degree geothermal fluids to the surface where the steam is separated out and used to drive generators.  The plant also captures waste heat from the primary circuit with fluid pentane to increase power output and efficiency.

The plant is currently contracted to provide 30 MW of electricity to Hawaii Electric and Light through 2030, but is looking to add another 8 MW of capacity soon, as well as building new reservoirs off the coast of Maui and near Mt. Hualalai to expand its electricity coverage across the islands.

With the vast amount of geothermal energy in the area, Hawaii could easily get most of their electricity from these sources within the near future.

via Cleantechnica