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Steamboat Springs — The resources to develop a geothermal power plant may lie right in Steamboat Springs' backyard, Matthew Sares plans to tell a local audience Thursday.

Sares is the deputy director of the Colorado Geological Survey. Joined by two colleagues, Sares will give a presentation on the geothermal resources of Colorado - and Routt and Moffat counties in particular - at a lunchtime event at Colorado Mountain College that is free and open to the public.

An ad hoc group exploring ways in which renewable energy and energy efficiency initiatives might take shape locally is sponsoring the presentation.

"We are working diligently to bring content experts here so we can see what the opportunities might be for us in this evolution of the New Energy Economy," group member Noreen Moore said. "We have a commodity here. What can we do with it?"

Three things, according to Sares. The first option, which is becoming increasingly common in the Yampa Valley, is using geo-exchange and ground source heat pumps to cool and heat a home. Such systems take advantage of constant subsurface temperatures of about 55 degrees. Sares said that in the winter those temperatures can be concentrated and increased to heat a home. In the summer, the system works in an opposite way to circulate the cool subsurface temperatures through a home.

The other two options depend on the presence of thermal waters. Sares said hot water can be used directly to heat indoor spaces and water used within a home.

The third geothermal option is electricity generation, a much more challenging option. Although thermal waters of 100 degrees and hotter can be used directly, temperatures in excess of 250 degrees would be needed to make electrical generation feasible.

"Electrical power production is something we'd like to see in Colorado at the right place in the right time," said Sares, who said states such as California and Nevada can more readily tap into the resource because waters that hot can be found at shallower depths. "It's happening in the U.S. and all over the world. It's not happening in Colorado yet."

The Strawberry Park area north of Steamboat Springs, however, is one area in the state that may have the potential for electrical generation. Sares said studies have shown the subsurface temperatures of Strawberry Park's famous hot springs waters may be in excess of 250 to 350 degrees. But how deep one would have to drill to find water that hot is not yet known, Sares said, and existing uses would be an important factor in whether such an opportunity would be developed.

"I do think there's a resource up there that could be used for more than hot springs pools and spas," Sares said, "but that's not to say those aren't excellent uses already."