Posted on 01/22/2007 3:41:50 PM PST by kiriath_jearim
The extraordinary amount of heat seething below Earth's hard rocky crust could help supply the United States with a significant fraction of the electricity it will need in the future, probably at competitive prices and with minimal environmental impact, scientists now claim.
An 18-member panel led by MIT has prepared the first study in some 30 years to take a new look at the largely ignored area of geothermal energy.
Geothermal plants essentially mine heat by using wells at times a mile or more deep. These wells tap into hot rock and connect them with flowing water, producing large amounts of steam and super-hot water that can drive turbines and run electricity generators at the surface.
Unlike conventional power plants that burn coal, natural gas or oil, no fuel is required. And unlike solar power, a geothermal plant draws energy night and day.
Geothermal research was very active in the 1970s and early 1980s. As oil prices declined in the mid-1980s, enthusiasm for alternative energy sources waned and funding for research on geothermal and other renewable energy was greatly reduced, making it difficult for the technology to advance.
"Now that energy concerns have resurfaced, an opportunity exists for the U.S. to pursue the enhanced geothermal system option aggressively to meet long-term national needs," said panel head Jefferson Tester, a chemical engineer at MIT.
Fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas are increasingly expensive and dump carbon dioxide and other pollutants into the atmosphere. Furthermore, oil and gas imports from foreign sources are not necessarily secure in the world's shifting political climate.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
ping
Wow! Guess the Arabs better think about developing their economies........
Works great for iceland.
They tried this (pumping waste water down a few miles and getting it hot) in a Scandenavian country and got earth quakes recently.
Rape is arrogant penetration.
So what is it when we penetrate the sacred mother earth. Isn't that disrespect for some religion?
Took-em long enough!
Glad they realize the Sun has many valuable qualities...
Hollywood made a movie about this in the 60's - A Crack in The World.
Basic premise was shooting a nuke to the mantle to get to hot magma to produce unlimited power. It resulted in a piece of the Earth to explode into space.
Anyone remember the movie "Crack in the Earth" ??
(http://www.answers.com/topic/crack-in-the-world-film)
There's a geothermal plant outside my town. Stinks like rotten eggs (but it smelled that way before since it's the site of a natural thermal spring).
Great energy source, though. Last I heard, the technology was at the point where they were trying to heat the water in an enclosed system (pipes carrying the water round-trip) to avoid the problem of corrosion and mineral build-up, which can be substantial.
"Hollywood made a movie about this in the 60's - A Crack in The World."
***
I remember that flick. It starred Dana Andrews.
I was young, it was on TV (ABC I think) and it scared the hell out of me.
I suppose you think that An Inconvenient Truth is a scientifically based movie also.
From what I have read there is quite abit of developement in thermal energy. As usual there are problems to work out.
Wile E. Coyote got the same result. Came from a pill, I think.
I've visited a couple of hydrothermal pilot plants that were set up in the 70s-80s and those problems seemed insurmountable. Corrosion ate up metal as fast as it could be replaced and minerals continually blocked pipes and valves. This would be the best possible source of energy IMO if it can be perfected. Does anyone know how they're getting around those problems in Iceland?
Expect the fear loving American "capitalist" hating left to demonize this too. They don't want us to drill off shore or in the anwar, and they try to block all other sources of energy. I wish they would contribute to America's energy reduction and all go.... well, if they go to hell, they might actually help fuel this energy source.
To all,
This is typical of the 70s revival. Geo-thermal, wave, wind, solar, electric, co-generation, etc. were all the rage back in the day. Now, 3 decades later, the hippies have come back.
I am quiet serious. (And I am a geologist.)
To be fair, "earth quakes" is not the correct term --- unexpected seismic disturbances (not at the plate level, mind you, much higher) did occur. Bad enough that they shut the project down.
They were pumping large amounts of sea water down fairly deep to encounter temps of 500 degrees or so.
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