Why doesn't Japan (or America, for that matter) use more geothermal energy, like Iceland does?

They could just tap into one of their volcanos and use that heat to boil water for electricity instead of building nuclear reactors all over their volcanic island.

It seems so simple, but maybe there's a reason I'm not seeing?

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/geothermal/powerplants.html

It is a good question.

NGU.

has a wealth of alternative energy it could explore, that makes other countries of the world envious. Between, Tidal energy (Pacific, Atlantic, and Gulf of Mexico), Thermal energy (Yellowstone), Wind (Kansas, Texas, New Mexico), and Solar (California, Florida) one has to wonder when will the United States become aggressive heading into this direction?

At least Germany will attempt to move in that direction, and that country is very tiny compared to the United States, but their will to act seems to be much greater.

It's probably some dumb shit like that.

http://www.energy.ca.gov/geothermal/

http://deq.mt.gov/energy/geothermal/projects.mcpx

This reflects electrical power and doesn't include water or space heating uses.

K/R for geothermal.

http://www.care2.com/causes/environment/blog/after-fukushima-japan-reconsiders-geothermal-power/

Japan ranks eighth in the world for installed geothermal capacity with about 540 MW already producing power and third for untapped potential, according to the 2010 Geothermal Congress at Bali, Indonesia.

Currently, Japan is home to 18 geothermal power plants, eight of which are located in the Sendai region, which was severely affected by the quake and tsunami. Despite their close proximity, media reports say only four of the plants experienced any interruption in operation during the tsunami, and it was quickly rectified.

Geothermal has an average capacity factor (how often the power plant runs) of about 73 percent though some have been recorded as high as 98 percent. And as Care2's Jasmine Greene reports, it's not just the capacity factor that makes geothermal very attractive, but the fact that this energy source alone could potentially power the entire world.

Another attractive quality of geothermal is its lack of risk to public safety.

"If there is a major natural disaster, the main damage (to geothermal plants) will be to the pipelines carrying hot water," D. Chandrasekharam, an earth sciences professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay told Renewable Energy World. "That's much easier to control than radiation."

one place in town known as the 'hot water' district. They have wells that push the hot water through the pipes in the homes. We also heat our school buildings with geothermal and the major sidewalks downtown keeping them ice/snow free in winter. Many of our downtown buildings are heated by geothermal circulation including our theater.

Several years ago, it was required that reinjection wells be drilled for all users so that the water is returned to the source.

Delving further, I found some information from Japanese Wiki about geothermal power generation

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/地熱発電#.E6.97.A5.E6.9C.AC.E3.81.AE.E5.9C.B0.E7.86.B1.E7.99.BA.E9.9B.BB.E6.89.80

I see only one plant shown for Miyagi (Sendai), but a large number for Kyushu, especially Oita (which is particularly famous for its hot springs) and Kumamoto. It's interesting that the largest facility in Japan is the Hatchobara facility in Oita prefecture, which at first glance of its name in Kanji looks like a nuclear power plant. But apparently it has the ability to generate 110,000MW of geothermal electricity, enough to power 200,000 homes.

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/八丁原発電所

There are two active volcanoes in my county. Why not tap them aggressively?

The US could use more geothermal energy, sure, but we could never make it our mainstay like Iceland does. Solar, wind, and tidal are all better for us than geothermal. Don't get me wrong, geothermal can be a penny in the jar, but we aren't gonna be able to buy any candy with it.

I'm all for geothermal energy...where it's available. Hawaii could use it. In AZ, you can't charge an Ipod with geothermal energy, but solar is plentiful and we use it. We also utilize a lot of hydro power.

...to make permanent plants possible.

Man made types, drill down to hot rock, Frack the rock and pump water down and up again. Eventually the ground does cool, because the only heat transport mechanism for reheating is conduction. So after 10 or maybe 20 years, the site is depeted and new wells have to be drilled and fracked in new locations.

Even ignoring the problems we are discovering with fracking, the need to continually drill new wells makes what should be an attractive proposition, barely marginal.

the cost was more than a conventional hvac system but after the tax credit it was slightly less. and now no gas or oil bill. :)

...a mile-long stretch of solar panels on a four-lane highway could take 500 homes off the grid. If the entire US Interstate system made use of the panels, energy would no longer be a concern for the country.

http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-08/solar-panels-built-roads-could-be-future-energy

Elsewhere on DU, I read that the world would need 15,000 nuke plants to provide for our energy needs. Clearly that is an absurd idea. We need to use all the alternative methods possible.

I think geo-thermal would be a possibility in the PNWest. We have hot spots. We also have powerful tidal areas that could be used to produce power. Underwater turbines taking advantage of powerful tidal action is a real alternative, perhaps as costly initially as nuke plants but way less dangerous!