Rural areas, where many of the geothermal resources that can be produced for energy consumption are located, can suffer from economic depression and high unemployment. Geothermal developers bring significant economic advantages such as jobs and tax payments.
Unlike coal and natural gas, geothermal incurs no hidden costs such as land degradation, high air emissions, forced extinction and destruction of animals and plants, and health impacts to humans. Since geothermal energy production is domestic, it helps offset involvement in foreign energy affairs. Is geothermal market investment growing? A 2006 GEA estimate showed that for every dollar invested in geothermal energy, the resulting growth of output to the U.S. economy is $2.50, or, a geothermal investment of $400 million would result in a growth of output of $1 billion for the entire U.S. economy. Economic Impact Tools. Technology Feasibility and Cost Analysis is performed to determine the potential economic viability of geothermal energy production and helps to identify which technologies have the greatest likelihood of economic success. As geothermal power plants start to gain more acceptance, GTO is addressing capacity factor and the improvements needed to raise power production levels. Capacity factor is the ratio of how much energy a geothermal power plant produces relative to its actual power producing capabilities. Geothermal plants also differ in terms of the technology they use to convert the resource to electricity (direct steam, flash, or binary) and the type of cooling technology they use (water-cooled and air-cooled). Environmental impacts will differ depending on the conversion and cooling technology used. Geothermal power plants can have impacts on both water quality and consumption. Hot water pumped from underground reservoirs often contains high levels of sulfur, salt, and other minerals. During each project phases, geothermal energy projects will have social impacts. Geothermal energy projects can have both positive and negative social impacts. Social impacts can be seen as changes to people's way of life, culture, community structure, stability, services and facilities and their level of participation in decision-making.  Rural areas, where many of the geothermal resources that can be produced for energy consumption are located, can suffer from economic depression and high unemployment. Geothermal developers bring significant economic advantages such as jobs and tax payments. Is geothermal market investment growing? A 2006 GEA estimate showed that for every dollar invested in geothermal energy, the resulting growth of output to the U.S. economy is $2.50, or, a geothermal investment of $400 million would result in a growth of output of $1 billion for the entire U.S. economy. Geothermal energy is energy obtained from hot rocks deep underground, used in the production of electricity. The rocks can be used for the production of electricity for hundreds of thousand of years, or longer, because they are kept hot by uranium ore located nearby. Geothermal energy is the capture of heat from deep under the ground, usually by pumping water down, and then turning that heat into electricity. The same water can be used ove … r and over. There will be an initial environmental impact as the geothermal plant is set up June 2014 Economic Costs and Benefits of Geothermal Power 5 The price of solar is falling and extremely competitive with other energy technologies in many places, however these low costs are often due to government subsides. 21. June 2014 Economic Costs and Benefits of Geothermal Power 9 Often in the United States, where geothermal resources are found, the lack of development is not because of economic barriers (such as too-expensive technology), but it is instead a structural, political, or policy barrier that prevents development.
http://www.geo-energy.org/geo_basics_benefits.aspx http://www.energy.gov/eere/geothermal/economic-impact-tools http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/our-energy-choices/renewable-energy/environmental-impacts-geothermal-energy.html http://geothermaltime.weebly.com/social-effects-of-geothermal-energy.html http://www.geo-energy.org/geo_basics_benefits.aspx http://www.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_economic_impact_of_geothermal_energy http://geo-energy.org/reports/Economic%20Cost%20and%20Benfits_Publication_6_16.pdf
what are economic impacts of geothermal energy