Geothermal energy is used for electric power generation and direct utilization in the United States. The present installed capacity for electric power generation is 2,776 MWe with only 2,020 MWe in operation due to reduction at The Geysers geothermal field in California; producing approximately16,000 GWh per year. Geothermal electric power plants are located in California, Nevada, Utah and Hawaii. The two largest concentrations of plants are at The Geysers in northern California and the Imperial Valley in southern California. The direct utilization of geothermal energy includes the heating of pools and spas, greenhouses and aquaculture facilities, space heating and district heating, snow melting, agricultural drying, industrial applications and ground-source heat pumps. The installed capacity is 4,000 MWt and the annual energy use is 20,600 billion Btu (21,700 TJ - 6040 GWh). The largest applications is ground-source (geothermal) heat pumps (59% of the energy use), and the largest directuse is in aquaculture. Direct utilization is increasing at about six percent per year; whereas, electric power plant development is almost static. Geothermal energy is a relatively benign energy source, displaying fossil fuels and thus, reducing greenhouse gas emissions. A recent initiative by the U.S. Department of Energy, ìGeo-Powering the West,î should stimulate future geothermal development. The proposal is especially oriented to small-scale power plants with cascaded uses of the geothermal fluid for direct applications.

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