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Now is the time to invest in real geothermal energy Thousands of drilling rigs are idle.
Mother Nature Network ^ | Sun, Feb 22, 2015 at 12:17 PM | By: Lloyd Alter

Posted on 02/22/2015 6:03:13 PM PST by ckilmer

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To: ckilmer

If you cannot afford to spend money on labor to drill for fossil fuel when it is cheap, why would you spend money on something more expensive, when people are going to choose the less expensive.


41 posted on 02/22/2015 7:40:00 PM PST by depressed in 06 (America conceived in liberty, dies in slavery.)
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To: ckilmer; thackney

Iceland has much volcanism right up to the surface. Some mighty deep holes would be needed on the CO Rockies for that. Might try Yellowstone, though.

;-)


42 posted on 02/22/2015 7:51:13 PM PST by familyop (We Baby Boomers are croaking in an avalanche of corruption smelled around the planet.)
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To: familyop

Here in Colorado, we have a number of “hot springs” (Manitou, Pegosa, etc) that are 100 deg F or hotter. Here is a map from the Colorado Geothermal Survey that shows several of these active areas.

http://coloradogeologicalsurvey.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/LoRes_Plate1_Interpretitive_Geothermal_Heat_Flow_Map.pdf


43 posted on 02/22/2015 8:01:49 PM PST by taxcontrol
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To: taxcontrol

Well, there we are. Let’s drill ‘em! Out with tourism, and in with geothermal!

;-)


44 posted on 02/22/2015 8:07:38 PM PST by familyop (We Baby Boomers are croaking in an avalanche of corruption smelled around the planet.)
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To: familyop

Iceland has much volcanism right up to the surface. Some mighty deep holes would be needed on the CO Rockies for that. Might try Yellowstone, though.

;-)
...................
ug not yellowstone thankyou.

They already have a couple of these things up and running in Nevada and California where its also geologically active but seems safer to play with fire.


45 posted on 02/22/2015 8:39:42 PM PST by ckilmer (q)
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To: taxcontrol

I know there’s at least one geothermal plant in Utah that works under similar temperatures.


46 posted on 02/22/2015 8:41:18 PM PST by ckilmer (q)
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To: ckilmer
Now is the time to invest in real geothermal energy

Geothermal energy has insurmountable problems that go way beyond the drilling.
The corrosive environment destroys all the mechanical and metal components in record time. Perpetually expensive to maintain.

47 posted on 02/22/2015 8:43:18 PM PST by publius911 (Formerly Publius6961)
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To: publius911; thackney

The corrosive environment destroys all the mechanical and metal components in record time. Perpetually expensive to maintain.
..................
ah that’s what it is. probably worse than desalination where fully 1/3 of the costs are involved with maintenance. (the other two thirds are 1/3 capital costs & 1/3 energy costs.)

Hmm, I would hazard that sometime in the next 10 years or so the people doing materials research will come up with coatings that are both super water phobic and super resistant to corrosion. If you ever read physorg you see a relatively constant flow (as in 2-4 times a year) of materials with these characteristics. The addressable market for this in the water desal business alone is huge.


48 posted on 02/22/2015 8:50:49 PM PST by ckilmer (q)
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To: ckilmer
True. If you look at the map above, you’ll notice that the hot zones where geothermal works best — are all out west.

Yup, out west closer to the faults. However, how deep do you have to go to get enough heat, consistently hot enough, to actually make it worth it?
49 posted on 02/22/2015 8:54:15 PM PST by Svartalfiar
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To: taxcontrol

I used a restroom at some place near Mt. Princeton.

The only time I’ve ever used a toilet which used hot, very hot, water to flush.

It was filled via stainless steel pipes (about 2” diameter) laid on the ground. Guess there was no problem with freezing in winter.


50 posted on 02/22/2015 9:06:59 PM PST by Balding_Eagle (The Gruber Revelations are proof that God is still smiling on America.)
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To: ckilmer; thackney
I have worked at a commercial scale geothermal power plant located in California. This was about 30 years ago. Geothermal is indeed more expensive than natural gas with respect to capital and operating cost for the power plant.

Most geothermal energy in the USA is going to be a hot brine under pressure. This brine is extracted from the ground, piped to the power plant, flashed to make steam that in turn drives steam turbines for power generation. The spent steam is condensed back to liquid water at lower temperature than pumped back to the geothermal field for injection back into the ground.

Keep in mind that this is a brine, which means there are lots of dissolved salts, some of these salts toxic at high concentrations. A significant amount of the salts carry over into the flashed steam causing pretty radical fouling and corrosion, which in turn results in expensive metallurgy to keep the heat exchangers, piping, turbines, etc. from rapidly failing and plugging. Chemical additive cost for fouling control is pretty high as well.

Yes, geothermal is technically possible in much of the western USA. No, it is not economically competitive with natural gas, coal or nuclear. If it were, geothermal would most assuredly already be in common use. There is no conspiracy holding it back, just economics.

51 posted on 02/22/2015 9:19:29 PM PST by Hootowl99
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To: ckilmer

Seems like the island of Hawaii would be a good geothermal test locale.


52 posted on 02/22/2015 9:23:56 PM PST by Rockpile
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To: Jonty30

I’m currently living in a house purportedly heated with geothermal energy. Installation was very costly indeed. It doesn’t run by itself; it burns through a lot of electricity. It doesn’t cost much less to run than the natural gas heat I had in the last house, which was of comparable size. (Obviously part of the expense is for the electricity to power system fans that distribute the heat through ductwork.) If we have to shut down the well, as has happened several times in the past few weeks when extreme cold caused pipes to break, the geothermal heating system doesn’t work. With natural gas heat, you don’t lose heat in the entire house while you’re waiting for the plumber to show up after a pipe bursts. I’ve had to supplement the geothermal system with electric space heaters. No, I’m not impressed.


53 posted on 02/22/2015 10:33:18 PM PST by ottbmare (the OTTB mare, now a proud Marine Mom)
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To: Hugin
Thousands of oil rigs are idle because the price of energy is way down due to increased production. If geothermal wasn’t competitive with 100 dollar a barrel oil, how big are the subsidies going to have to be at 50?

Your post is the essence of the posts on this thread, A post to the top it is.

I spent 17 years on the drilling rigs looking for gas and oil and we found a bunch. I assure you that the guys at the top of Exxon, Shell, BP, Aramco etc. do not give a damn where the oil, gas or geothermal energy comes from. They will tap each and every one of them if they can make a profit.

Personally I do like geothermal energy as it is unlimited. I also recognize it is not competitive with gas and oil with the rare exceptions like Iceland which sits on top of a rift zone which means red hot rocks.

54 posted on 02/23/2015 12:28:36 AM PST by cpdiii (DECKHAND, ROUGHNECK, GEOLOGIST, PILOT, PHARMACIST, LIBERTARIAN The Constitution is worth dying for.)
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To: Hootowl99

Thanks for your info


55 posted on 02/23/2015 5:01:33 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: ckilmer

Does the steam bring up a nasty brew that eats into the equipment causing regular costly repairs?

______________

You bet. There are other costs too.

Oldplayer


56 posted on 02/23/2015 6:21:14 AM PST by oldplayer
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