Word: larderello
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...Classico. And the search is not for crude oil, but for boiling underground wells that can produce clean steam energy. The central Italian region happens to be the world's unrivaled mecca of geothermal energy production. In 1904 the first experiment ever in steam-powered electricity was conducted in Larderello, when five light bulbs were lit by a dynamo propelled by geothermal liquid. Nine years later, the first steam-generated power plant was built in this area - once known as Valle del Diavolo (Devil's Valley) for the boiling liquid that bubbled out of the ground. But this swath...
...geothermal energy is hardly new. Icelanders have used volcanic springs to heat their homes for generations. In Larderello, Italy, the earth's heat has been tapped to make electrical power since 1904. In the mountains north of San Francisco, a rich geothermal area called the Geysers produces about 40% of the city's electricity. In most of these applications, the geothermal energy is released as scalding steam. Unfortunately, reserves of accessible underground water hot enough to produce steam (above 212° F.) have been found only in scattered areas of the globe, which has until now hindered wider...
...heat is not likely to be used up. Once scientists master the technology, they should be able to recirculate condensed steam back into the ground, giving virtually unlimited life to wells in states as dry as Nevada. Even without such re-circulation, Italy's 64-year-old Larderello geothermal-power plant near Siena, where fumaroles gave Dante earthly inspiration for his Inferno six centuries ago, is still going strong...
...Zealand's engineers made a close study of the world's only other big geothermal power plant, at Larderello in central Italy. Larderello's steam has been used since 1913 to drive power plants. New Zealand's steam needs less treatment to free it of foreign matter and seems to be far more plentiful. Though authorities at first hesitated to schedule expensive powerhouses in the geothermal region for fear that the steam wells might peter out, nothing of the sort has happened; after eight years the oldest of the steam wells is screaming as loud...
...steam was used to concentrate boric acid brought to the surface by natural soffioni (blowholes). In 1905 it ran a steam engine and a 20-kilowatt generator. A sizable industry has grown up around Larderello, producing borax, carbon dioxide and ammonia as well as power. Italian geologists believe that the output, both of chemicals and power, can be increased considerably, hence the new power plant...