Geothermal Power Used In Growing Local Specialty Plants

On Hachijyo Island, one of the Izu Islands of Japan, the cultivation of special tropical plants with heat from a geothermal power facility is flourishing. Kerosene had been used to heat the greenhouses previously, but with the switch to geothermal power three years ago, heating costs for greenhouses are now one tenth of what it had they had been. Foliage plants and leaves are popular products of Hachijyo Island and are shipped to Tokyo and to all parts of Japan.

Hachijyo Island is a volcanic island with a mass of magma lying four kilometers underground beneath Mt. Mihara that has geothermal heat of about 300 degrees Celsius at its upper layer. The geothermal power facility extracts steam for power generation from a geothermal layer 1,650 meters beneath the foot of Mt. Mihara. After it is used for generating power, the steam from the plant is used to heat water that is then transported to the greenhouses where it is used to warm the air indoors.


Hachijyo Island is a volcanic island with a mass of magma lying four to five kilometers underground beneath Mt. Mihara that has geothermal heat of about 300 degree Celsius at its upper layer. The geothermal power facility extracts steam for power generation from a geothermal layer 1,650 meters beneath the foot of Mt. Mihara. After it is used for generating power, the steam from the plant is used to heat water that is then transported to the greenhouses where it is used to warm the air to 15 degree Celsius indoors between December to March.



Posted: 2002/08/25 03:50:23 AM
Japanese version