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Energy answers sought in Earth's crust
The Washington Times ^
| August 13, 2007
| Eliane Engeler and Alexander G. Higgins
Posted on 08/13/2007 5:57:20 PM PDT by neverdem
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1
posted on
08/13/2007 5:57:21 PM PDT
by
neverdem
To: neverdem
OMG - this will cool off the earth.
2
posted on
08/13/2007 5:58:41 PM PDT
by
spanalot
To: neverdem; RedStateRocker; Dementon; eraser2005; Calpernia; DTogo; Maelstrom; Yehuda; babble-on; ...
Renewable Energy Ping Please Freep Mail me if you'd like on/off
3
posted on
08/13/2007 5:59:30 PM PDT
by
Uncledave
To: neverdem
My neighbor has done some experimenting with geothermal heating and cooling but not of this kind.
He buried PVC pipe below the frost line all over his yard and pushes air through it. The ground stays at between 53 anf 55 degrees year round so you can see the advantage. He’s looking at doing the same but pushing water through the lines at his other house.
4
posted on
08/13/2007 6:05:14 PM PDT
by
cripplecreek
(Greed is NOT a conservative ideal.)
To: neverdem
Global mantle cooling, ahhhhh!
5
posted on
08/13/2007 6:08:28 PM PDT
by
#1CTYankee
(That's right, I have no proof. So what of it??)
To: neverdem
It's in a race with a firm in Australia to be the first to generate power commercially by boiling water on the rocks 3 miles underground. This sounds very risky. If the center cools then what.
To: neverdem
The envirowackos will insist that this solution will have a major impact on earth worms. The Antz and anteaters will also be impacted and will see the decline in the BC comic strip. Better to return to the caves and eschew our SUVs, AC unites and refrigerators!
Worms of the World Unite!
Yup, that will fit on a T-Shirt!
7
posted on
08/13/2007 6:12:09 PM PDT
by
Young Werther
(Jluius Caesar--Quae Cum Ita Sunt, (Since these things are so))
To: Orange1998
This sounds very risky. If the center cools then what.Then we just pump some of that global warming down there to warm it back up.
8
posted on
08/13/2007 6:17:39 PM PDT
by
mhx
To: Orange1998
This sounds very risky. If the center cools then what. You're kidding, right? The amount of heat energy down there is huge, and constantly being renewed from the radioactive elements in the core
9
posted on
08/13/2007 6:24:24 PM PDT
by
SauronOfMordor
(Open Season rocks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymLJz3N8ayI)
To: SauronOfMordor
Yep we got us one massive nuclear reactor down there the size of a small planet.
10
posted on
08/13/2007 6:29:50 PM PDT
by
cripplecreek
(Greed is NOT a conservative ideal.)
To: SauronOfMordor
The amount of heat energy down there is huge, and constantly being renewed from the radioactive elements in the core So, essentially, this is evil nuclear power? ;-)
11
posted on
08/13/2007 6:32:26 PM PDT
by
glorgau
To: neverdem
When tremors started cracking walls and bathroom tiles in this Swiss city on the Rhine, engineers knew they had a problem.Graduates of the Minnesota school of bridge-builders and inspectors.
12
posted on
08/13/2007 6:33:00 PM PDT
by
Rudder
To: cripplecreek
Hes looking at doing the same but pushing water through the lines at his other house.He just might develop a slight problem with flooding if he uses the same set-up he did for air.
13
posted on
08/13/2007 6:35:25 PM PDT
by
Rudder
To: Rudder
14
posted on
08/13/2007 6:38:23 PM PDT
by
cripplecreek
(Greed is NOT a conservative ideal.)
To: glorgau
BIG nuke.
15
posted on
08/13/2007 6:40:25 PM PDT
by
cripplecreek
(Greed is NOT a conservative ideal.)
To: neverdem
” It said an investment of $800 million to $1 billion could produce more than 100 gigawatts of electricity by 2050...”
I assume the author meant to say “gigawatt hours of electricity”. Anyone purporting to report on technical matters should try to get the concepts and terminology down.
To: cripplecreek
My dad had a friend that did something like that many years ago. I found a patent on it here:
http://www.patentgenius.com/patent/5509462.html
17
posted on
08/13/2007 6:52:12 PM PDT
by
isthisnickcool
(Al Gore is Soylent Green!)
To: cripplecreek
Ground Source Geothermal Heat Pumps are an incredible opportunity for energy savings.
Free energy just below the Earth’s surface can be exploited cost-effectively for heating and cooling.
Imagine heating and cooling a 2,000 sq. ft. home for a few hundred dollars each season!
Capital costs are somewhat higher, but not significantly. And geothermal heat pumps can last as long as 25 years.
Also, there is no noisy exterior heat exchanger for air conditioning - it is an integral part of the heat pump.
18
posted on
08/13/2007 6:56:21 PM PDT
by
Stallone
(Free Republic - The largest collection of volunteer Freedom Fighters the world has ever known)
To: neverdem
This won’t work until they figure out how to drill two holes that meet, so they can pump water down one hole, and have steam come out the other. Failure means more underground explosions and earthquakes.
19
posted on
08/13/2007 6:57:31 PM PDT
by
aimhigh
To: cripplecreek
He buried PVC pipe below the frost line all over his yard and pushes air through it.
If he hasn’t already, he should contact the alternative energy institute at West Texas A&M University. They have done some research on this and had some very good information when I asked about it several years ago.
One thing they learned was that if you use straight-edged PVC (normal pipe), the air close to the edges is cooled a lot, but the air that flows through the middle doesn’t cool much. They tried pipe with a corrugated wall and it created turbulence in the air stream, cooling the entire stream.
I’m sure the same thing would happen in a water-based system.
Another thing to consider with an air-based system is that they are humidity traps. If the air is humid upon entry, the water will condense in the pipe and you eventually will have a mold problem.
20
posted on
08/13/2007 7:01:30 PM PDT
by
Stegall Tx
("Hey, I stole a credit card, won the lottery, and all I have to show for it is a prison jump suit!")
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