Study of Environmental Impact in Geothermal Development and Utilization

Abstract

Geothermal resources are the clear "green" energy sources, as the alternate energy sources of the fossil fuels such As coal, oil and natural gas, their development and utilization have an important significance for reduce "the greenhouse effect" and improve the people’s environment. But during the processes of geothermal development and utilization the different environmental problems could be induced by not good at management, willful discharge or emission of pollutant without any treatment, super-exploitation, etc. These issues could influence the sustainable development of geothermal fields to a certain extent. For these reason, many countries has paid a great attention to these issues. Based on referring and citing a part of relevant literatures and materials, in the paper are discussed the environmental impact issues including water and soil pollution, air pollution, thermal pollution, subsidence and landslide hazard, which may be occurred during the processes of geothermal development and utilization, and several proposals are offered.