Whatever Happened to Geothermal Energy?

Whatever Happened to Geothermal Energy?

www.foxnews.com

The world's greatest source of power lies a few miles under our feet.

Geothermal energy, which draws on the heat from the Earth's interior, could supply the current global energy demand for more than 30,000 years.

The trick is tapping into it. Geothermal energy accounts for less than a half-percent of global energy consumption, according to the International Energy Association

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A good article discussing the pros and cons of geothermal energy production. The author thinks that it is a bit too expensive for development in the US now due to drilling costs. However geothermal has the potential for providing for much of our energy needs in the future as energy costs increase.
Basically what they do is find some hot stable geologic rock, drill into it, inject water into it which breaks up the rocks providing for water flow. Drill a 2nd hole to extract the steam to use to produce electricity. Iceland now uses geothermal to produce much of its power.

Does anyone see a downside to geothermal use?

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reply to post by plumranch


They have these things called "Mini-Homes," that are increasing in popularity, especially in parts of Europe and Asia. They have some in Germany and Greenland that are heated entirely by geothermal means. They place pipes that go down into these heat wells, and they can heat a house in a completely natural fashion with nothing more than a few very small pipes. Geothermal energy is definitely up for debate though!

reply to post by DeadFlagBlues

They place pipes that go down into these heat wells, and they can heat a house in a completely natural fashion with nothing more than a few very small pipes.

Hi Flag, Thanks for the post. At the "Ranch" I'm installing a ground source heat pump. The heating loup goes out into the ground at a 5' depth for 1300 ft. total length. The coolant in the pipe comes in at 62 degrees and is reduced to 40 degrees on return. That heat is used to heat my house and shop. The "furnace" is a heat pump. Anywhere in the NW US the ground temp is about 60 degrees so it is ideal for this use.
You can also go straight down a well to make your loup if you have close neighbors but the cost is higher.
Is this the type system you refer to?

reply to post by plumranch


On the diagram I saw it the pipes went into the earth over a hundred feet, maybe several hundred and were brought to a centralized distributor of some sort. Whatever you're doing sounds cool though. Shoot me a U2U and tell me how it work. Sounds exactly like what I want to do with some land in Idaho.

This is too obvious and sensible for anyone to consider seriously. For one, there is no money in it. Apart from drilling a few holes, what is there? Over-simplification, I know, but the point is, they can't make Billions out of it, charging crazy prices for something so (relatively) simple.

It is why hydrogen cars won't take off in this country for a good decade or two yet - too much money to be made in tax revenue from the astronomical gas prices at the moment.

by Mirage:
This is too obvious and sensible for anyone to consider seriously. For one, there is no money in it. Apart from drilling a few holes, what is there? Over-simplification, I know, but the point is, they can't make Billions out of it, charging crazy prices for something so (relatively) simple.

Well actually you can make money from drilling holes and extracting heat from the earth. You just have to have energy prices high enough to justify the expenses of your venture. The big expense here is the drilling, next the water injection and then the steam generation process. It could look very favorable with say $200/b oil. Or what about $500/b oil? It is probably just a matter of time and why not take advantage of what is available to us? We can bore holes and do all the rest... Save the oil for ships, jets, autos, tractors, or whatever...

[edit on 7/12/07 by plumranch]

Whatever you're doing sounds cool though.

reply to post by DeadFlagBlues

Hi Flag,
For everyone,s info just Google "ground source heat pump" for info on the type of system I am installing.
The system has the advantage of cost savings of at least 1/2 and probably much more compared to conventional heating.

One drawback could be the accidental release of massive amounts of methane gas. Enough methane to kill all life on the planet. Another thing could be the wide spread use through out the world which could cool the core just enough to allow for a weakening of our magnetic core. The core cooling more then likely would not happen in thousands of years of course.

energybulletin.net...

[edit on 7-12-2007 by cloakndagger]

reply to post by plumranch


this is also very used in many Danish Private homes, and yes it saves you alot of money and it is "clean" ebergy, if the electricity comes from alternative energy source aswel.

this is also very used in many Danish Private homes, and yes it saves you alot of money and it is "clean" ebergy, if the electricity comes from alternative energy source aswel.

reply to post by Bluess

Hi Bluess,
Is this what you mean? Scroll down to where they discuss well or vertical loup.

It would be cool to combine the ground source heating with a solar, wind or hybrid electric system so you are producing all your own energy!