We should be doing everything possible to develop geothermal energy technologies. This is a largely untapped source of tremendous alternative energy potential, as it would simply involve tapping into the energy being naturally produced by the Earth itself. Vast amounts of power are present below the surface crust on which we move and live our lives. All we need do is tap into it and harness it.

At the Earths' core, the temperature is 60 times greater than that of water being boiled. The tremendous heat creates high pressures that exert themselves only a couple of miles below us, and these pressures contain huge amounts of energy.

Superheated fluids in the form of magma and lava, which we see whenever there is a volcanic eruption, await our tapping. Geysers are also a natural phenomenon where steam under pressure escapes from vents in the ground. There is an enormous, almost untapped, source of geothermal energy that we can harness and put to use.

We can create our own vents, and we can create containment chambers for the magma to rise into and we can convert all this energy into electricity to light and heat our homes.

In a geothermal power plant, a well would be dug where there is a good source of magma or heated fluid. Piping would be fitted down into the source, and the fluids forced to the surface to produce the needed steam. The steam would turn a turbine engine, which would generate the electricity.

There is some criticism of the practical implementation of tapping geothermal energy which is hampering progress. Critics say that it is too expensive and too time consuming a process. A geothermal power plant is also extremely costly to construct, and because such power plants are an unknown quantity, it is not certain that it will be a  profitable  venture. Another problem that could arise is that once tapped, it might be found that the plant cannot produce a large enough output of steam for it to be viable or reliable.

Environmentalists fear that raising magma to the surface in this manner could result in potentially harmful materials being brought to the surface possibly resulting in contamination or other damage to the environment.

Geothermal energy is extremely efficient—the effort needed to channel it is minimal once a site has been found and a plant set up. Geothermal power plants do not need to be as large as electrical plants, giant dams, or atomic energy facilities, and if managed carefully, with attention to detail, the disruption to the environment could be kept at a minimum. Of course, it is an alternative form of energy and commissioning it would mean much less dependence on oil and coal.

Perhaps most importantly of all—we are never, ever going to run out of geothermal energy and possibly, in the end, it will prove to be an inexpensive, sustainable and enduring alternative power supply.