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Hot New Study: Earth's Heat Can Power Our Future
Live Science.com ^ | 1/22/07 | Charles Q. Choi

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 ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: energy; geothermal
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To: Fierce Allegiance
Hawaii has already been working on this for several years now.
41 posted on 01/22/2007 4:37:21 PM PST by fish hawk (. B O stinks. That would be body odor and Barak Obama)
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To: fish hawk

so has California, Utah and Nevada.


42 posted on 01/22/2007 4:41:14 PM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: mountn man

Montana has some beautiful places.


43 posted on 01/22/2007 4:41:26 PM PST by SIDENET (Everybody was kung-fu fighting)
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To: thackney

Interesting site -- my information's years out of date. Thanks for posting it.


44 posted on 01/22/2007 4:43:53 PM PST by Bernard Marx
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To: MeanWestTexan
The hot water bubbles to the surface. They don't have to go get it.

Well then we'd better get some practical use out of Yellowstone before it blows and kills us all. (Joking folks, joking!)

45 posted on 01/22/2007 4:47:28 PM PST by Bernard Marx
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To: kiriath_jearim

Some buildings in Nebraska has been getting heat from geothermal sources for some 30 years.

If they can do it, why can't we?


46 posted on 01/22/2007 4:50:01 PM PST by Sen Jack S. Fogbound (A good Muslim is a nonexistent being!)
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To: SIDENET
Montana has some beautiful places.

Yes it does. As does Colorado, Wyoming, Washington, Idaho and Oregon.

I need to make it to Alaska sometime.

47 posted on 01/22/2007 4:51:26 PM PST by mountn man (The pleasure you get from life, is equal to the attitude you put into it.)
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To: kiriath_jearim

Cool the earths core until it solidifies and it becomes a dead piece of rock!


48 posted on 01/22/2007 4:57:11 PM PST by dalereed
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To: thackney
I stand corrected by your response. Thank you for the info and Link.

But natural gas is a by product, or a stand alone hydro carbon field unassociated with liquid crude. It isn't specifically refined from crude.

The basis of my argument is:

No matter how many tons of coal you replace by other means in the generation of electricity, it will not reduce our demand for oil by any significant amount.

49 posted on 01/22/2007 5:10:03 PM PST by woofer (It is not necessary to understand things in order to argue about them.)
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To: mountn man
I need to make it to Alaska sometime.

Everyone needs to.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1763150/posts?page=308#308

50 posted on 01/22/2007 5:10:37 PM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: woofer
No matter how many tons of coal you replace by other means in the generation of electricity, it will not reduce our demand for oil by any significant amount.

Absolutely.


U.S. Electric Power Industry Net Generation
Electric Power Annual with data for 2005

51 posted on 01/22/2007 5:13:49 PM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: kiriath_jearim

Lets lease Yellowstone NP to Duke Power.


52 posted on 01/22/2007 5:14:46 PM PST by Mike Darancette (Democrat Happens!)
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To: kiriath_jearim

Hardly new science, but certainly worth another look.


53 posted on 01/22/2007 5:22:15 PM PST by Lorianne
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To: spintreebob
So what is it when we penetrate the sacred mother earth. Isn't that disrespect for some religion?

Well, we would be sucking the energy out of mother gaia. Did you ever think of that?

54 posted on 01/22/2007 5:35:07 PM PST by ModelBreaker
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To: ModelBreaker
And since the actual source of most of the energy is radioactive decay of uranium laced throughout the earth's crust, it is scary evil nuke-clear demonic heat, too.
55 posted on 01/22/2007 5:37:52 PM PST by JasonC
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To: JasonC
And since the actual source of most of the energy is radioactive decay of uranium laced throughout the earth's crust, it is scary evil nuke-clear demonic heat, too.

So just what is Mother Gaia doing hanging out full of uranium? Something's off here.

56 posted on 01/22/2007 5:39:30 PM PST by ModelBreaker
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To: spintreebob
Rape is arrogant penetration.
___________________________________________________________

No. Arrogant Penetration was a punk rock band. They were pretty big in the late 70's. The lead singer's name was Buster High-man.
57 posted on 01/22/2007 5:46:19 PM PST by Grizzled Bear ("Does not play well with others.")
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To: kiriath_jearim

Tom Swift, Jr pioneered this technology 50 years ago.


58 posted on 01/22/2007 7:59:13 PM PST by ApplegateRanch (Islam: a Satanically Transmitted Disease, spread by unprotected intimate contact with the Koranus.)
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To: metmom

thanks, bfl


59 posted on 01/22/2007 8:49:42 PM PST by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: kiriath_jearim

Bump for later reading


60 posted on 01/22/2007 8:50:29 PM PST by Kevmo (Darn, if only I had signed up 4 days earlier, I'd have a 3-digit Freeper #)
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