[metmom]

ping

[yldstrk]

Wow! Guess the Arabs better think about developing their economies........

[Fierce Allegiance]

Works great for iceland.

[spintreebob]

Rape is arrogant penetration.

So what is it when we penetrate the sacred mother earth. Isn't that disrespect for some religion?

[TaraP]

Took-em long enough!

Glad they realize the Sun has many valuable qualities...

[DownInFlames]

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.

[xcamel]

Anyone remember the movie "Crack in the Earth" ??

(http://www.answers.com/topic/crack-in-the-world-film)

[randog]

Fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas are increasingly expensive and dump carbon dioxide and other pollutants into the atmosphere.

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.

[Parley Baer]

From what I have read there is quite abit of developement in thermal energy. As usual there are problems to work out.

[xcamel]

Some of the engineering students at nearby RPI are developing "high rate sectional heat pipe" that's like 10" in diameter and can be up to 2 miles long. I believe then can be "cemented" or "fused" directly to the heated rock at the bottom end, and directly to a heat/steam exchange system at the top end.

This would be a tremendous advance - avoiding all the corrosion problems.

[FormerACLUmember]

Iceland's Blue Lagoon: A Geothermal Power electricity generating plant's hot "waste" water (It is actually ultrapure) lets you swim in the dead of winter:

[ryan71]

A little excited until I got here:

"Still, the panel now estimates geothermal power could meet roughly 10 percent of U.S. electricity needs by 2050"

2050? The muslims will have half of Congress by then.

[RobinOfKingston]

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.

As, or if, geothermal begins to look viable the oil producers will again reduce prices and "enthusiasm" will again "wane."

[Sen Jack S. Fogbound]

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

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

[dalereed]

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

[Mike Darancette]

Lets lease Yellowstone NP to Duke Power.

[Lorianne]

Hardly new science, but certainly worth another look.

[ApplegateRanch]

Tom Swift, Jr pioneered this technology 50 years ago.

[Kevmo]

Bump for later reading