Drilling and exploration for deep resources is very expensive. Forecasts for the future of geothermal power depend on assumptions about technology, energy prices, subsidies, and interest rates. Pilot programs like EWEB's customer opt in Green Power Program [6] show that customers would be willing to pay a little more for a renewable energy source like geothermal. But as a result of government assisted research and industry experience, the cost of generating geothermal power has decreased by 25% over the past two decades.[7] In 2001, geothermal energy cost between two and ten cents per kwh.[8]

Emissions generated during the construction phase include exhaust from vehicular traffic and construction equipment, fugitive dust from traffic on paved and unpaved roads, and the release of geothermal fluid vapors (especially hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, mercury, arsenic, and boron, if present in the reservoir). Activities such as site clearing and grading, power plant and pipeline system construction, and transmission line construction would have more intense exhaust-related emissions over a period of 2 to 10 years. Impacts would depend upon the amount, duration, location, and characteristics of the emissions and the meteorological conditions (e.g., wind speed and direction, precipitation, and relative humidity).

Most impacts to ecological resources (vegetation, wildlife, aquatic biota, special status species, and their habitats) would be low to moderate and localized during the construction phase (although impacts due to noise could be high). Activities such as site clearing and grading, road construction, power plant construction, ancillary facility construction, and vehicle traffic have the potential to affect ecological resources by disturbing habitat, increasing erosion and runoff, and creating noise at the project site. Impacts to vegetation include loss of native species and species diversity; increased risk of invasive species; increased risk of topsoil erosion and seed bank depletion; increased risk of fire; and alteration of water and seed dispersal.

Solid and industrial waste would be generated during construction activities. Much of the solid waste would be nonhazardous, consisting of containers and packaging materials, miscellaneous wastes from equipment assembly and presence of construction crews (food wrappers and scraps), and woody vegetation. Industrial wastes would include minor amounts of paints, coatings, and spent solvents. Most of these materials would likely be transported off-site for disposal.

First of all, harnessing geothermal energy does not have the devastating impact on climate change like burning of the fossil fuels does. It is true that fluids drawn from the earth's core include greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane, but the amount of released greenhouse gas emissions is negligible compared to those from fossil fuel fired power plants.

One of the reasons for this is the fact that geothermal power plants are equipped with emission-control systems that reduce the exhaust.

geothermal power plants are connected with minimal freshwater and land requirements. This means that geothermal energy commonly has minimal impact on nearby ecosystems.