Thousands more megawatts of power than are currently being produced could be developed from already-identified hydrothermal resources. With improvements in technology, much more power will become available. Usable geothermal resources will not be limited to the "shallow" hydrothermal reservoirs at the crustal plate boundaries. Much of the world is underlain (3-6 miles down), by hot dry rock - no water, but lots of heat. Scientists in the U.S.A., Japan, England, France, Germany and Belgium have experimented with piping water into this deep hot rock to create more hydrothermal resources for use in geothermal power plants. As drilling technology improves, allowing us to drill much deeper, geothermal energy from hot dry rock could be available anywhere. At such time, we will be able to tap the true potential of the enormous heat resources of the earth's crust.

Since the first geothermally-generated electricity in the world was produced at Larderello, Italy, in 1904 the use of geothermal energy for electricity has grown worldwide to about 7,000 megawatts in twenty-one countries around the world. The United States alone produces 2700 megawatts of electricity from geothermal energy, electricity comparable to burning sixty million barrels of oil each year.

Eastern China is not close to a plate boundary, but has hot water in sedimentary basins similar to those in northern Europe. Direct use in 1995 totaled 4717 GWh/yr. In Tianjin and Beijing, more than 400 wells provide 6000 kg/h of hot (50-70degrees C) water for space heating, cloth dyeing and paper processing. In rural areas hot water is used for over 300 acres of greenhouses, drying crops and fish farming (430 acres of ponds). Throughout the country hot water is used for bathing and heating. Geothermal greenhouses in northeast China allow early starts of rice plants and an increase in production. Small geothermal power plants of 300 and 686 kWe capacity are in use in eastern China. 80 to 100 MWe production is planned for all of China by 2000. Nearby Taiwan is close to a plate boundary and has a large high-temperature volcanic-geothermal field at Tatun (too acid for present use), as well as lower-temperature fields at Chingshui (3 MWe) and at Tuchang (300 kWe).