This Company is Harnessing the Cheapest Energy on Earth

Townhall.com ^ | February 23, 2013 | Nathan Slater

[meyer]

Geothermal electricity generation is very popular in Iceland.

I would suspect that anything thermal is popular in Iceland! :-)

[Slump Tester]

Other than being in New York with it's high taxes and unions, I'll bet the power plants in Niagra Falls have them all beat as far as output vrs. money spent.

And they've been there a LONG time, too.

[huldah1776]

Drury University in Missouri used it for the chapel to preserve the historic building...

http://www.drury.edu/multinl/story.cfm?ID=21312&NLID=85

[Graybeard58]

Until the Greenies start screaming about robbing Gia of her internal heat.

That's funny and sadly, most likely true.

[Owl558]

“We should be using more hydroelectric here.”

In Scotland, I beleive, they have a hydroelectric plant that consists of 2 lakes at different altitudes with the power plat in between. During the day, when demand is high, the electricity generated goes out on the grid. At night, when demand is low, the electricity is used to pump the water from the lower lake back up to the upper lake to get ready for the next day. You basically have a closed, self-sustaining electrical generating system.

Why not here?

[cripplecreek]

Why not here?

Actually that's a pretty specific application for places that aren't in the best locations for hydroelectric. In most places the flow is pretty constant so there's no need to pump water back up to a higher level.

There are a few power plants like you describe in the USA. There are a couple of pumpstorage dams along the Lake Michigan. Now they're using windmills to pump water in and calling them wind power but the water flowing out is what actually produces the electricity.

[NicknamedBob]

"I've often wondered...

Living in Western Pennsylvania it's well known that coal mines, mushroom and storage caves stay at around 50-60 degrees F year round.

So there is a difference in temperature (as well as pressure I would guess) most of the year. Couldn't that difference in energy levels be used to generate power at some, admittedly low level?

I suppose that is the concept behind heat pumps that are used here with some degree of success. However I'm thinking much deeper, say 1000 - 10,000 feet or more. "

You rapidly reach a point of diminishing returns. To go that deep would be very expensive. However, it isn't necessary to go that deep to get some benefit.

As you mentioned, heat pumps can tap into geothermal heat much closer to the surface. In fact, one could envision it as annualizing the same heat, extracted during the summer, to warm his house in the winter. Heat pumps have to be powered, of course, and the usual method is to use electricity for the purpose. (I presume that it is technically feasible to power a heat pump using wind power, for instance, but I am not aware of anyone doing it on a commercial basis.)

In any case, the heat being delivered is not the heat of the energy used to operate the pump. It is the heat being extracted from the heat sink of choice. It is for this reason that geothermal storage of the heat at 50^oF is preferable to attempting to wrest heat from the winter air at 20^oF.

A surprisingly small "footprint" can now be used for geothermal heat extraction. Basically, one can drill several small holes, from six inches to two feet, and only a few dozen feet deep, to have all the thermal mass his heat pump could use.

Anyone who is considering upgrading his whole-house air conditioning, or replacing his furnace, should consider getting a heat pump for both air conditioning and house heating. (One can even use this type of operation to heat domestic hot water!)

Note also that the amount of natural geothermal heat is dependent somewhat on your latitude, how far from the equator you are. In southern states, just circulating a working fluid through a large geothermal mass can provide sufficient temperature conditioning summer and winter.

[kiryandil]

Thorium from coal, combined with the Fischer-Tropsch process.

[Vigilanteman]

I have an aunt and uncle in Boise who pay a pittance for their home power needs. Their neighborhood is able to tape into the same vein that powers the state Capitol building. Basically, all they have to pay for is the piping.

[Smokin' Joe]

Yeah but these geothermal plants are causing the earths core to cool down quicker thereby causing earthquakes from the crust shrinking. The democrat party will soon put a stop to this madness or perhaps tax it out of business.

Why, just think what it would do to their fuel tax revenues if everyone had a shorter drive to work (from the crust shrinking).

Okay, I really couldn't type that with a straight face..

[Smokin' Joe]

Yeah but these geothermal plants are causing the earths core to cool down quicker thereby causing earthquakes from the crust shrinking. The democrat party will soon put a stop to this madness or perhaps tax it out of business.

Oil wells are commonly drilled in areas where the source rocks have reached thermal maturity (a combination of temperature and pressure which causes the organics to generate oil in the rock). Hotter than that, you will get natural gas.

Likely they are not hot enough to generate the steam needed to run turbines.

Bottom hole temperatures in the Bakken are usually below 300 degrees Fahrenheit, for example.

[Smokin' Joe]

There is one of those in Bath County, Virginia.

[Smokin' Joe]

So there is a difference in temperature (as well as pressure I would guess) most of the year. Couldn't that difference in energy levels be used to generate power at some, admittedly low level?

At a shallower depth, it can be used to produce air temps in the high 50s to low 60s (F) via heat exchangers, circulating fluid in a ground loop. Depending on where you live, that alone can save a lot. (A local tribal center in ND cut their energy bills for heating and cooling in half, no mean feat for a large building complex in an area where winter routinely gets to -30F and summer can run in the triple digits.)