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Geothermal energy start-up is planning sci-fi style WAVE 'drill' it says will penetrate 12.4 miles into the Earth's crust and help release 'limitless' clean energy
Daily Mail ^

Posted on 03/02/2022 12:30:38 PM PST by algore

Quaise Energy, a startup out of MIT, based in Boston and Houston, recently secured $40 million in funding to help it get the first drilling rig off the drawing board.

The system works by drilling down to base rock, then firing high-power millimeter waves into the ground, without the need for complex mechanical drills that are limited by the pressure and intense heat deep into the crust.

Regular metal drills get broken or just melt beyond a certain depth, when the heat and pressure becomes too much for them to handle.

The goal is to be able to repurpose existing fossil fuel power plants, replacing burning coal with 900F heat from miles below the surface of the Earth.

The firm hope to have the first drilling platform live by 2024, the first wells producing up to 100 megawatt of geothermal energy by 2026, and fossil power plants repurposed by 2028, delivering clean energy around the world.

Being able to tap into a globally available supply of geothermal energy requires drilling much deeper into the Earth than currently possible.

The Kola Superdeep Borehole in Russia holds the record for deepest produced hole, going down about seven miles, but even that isn't enough for Quaise Energy.

They suggest that drilling would need to go down to about 12 miles below the surface in order to reach rocks hot enough to power massive power plants

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events; Technical; Testing
KEYWORDS: drilling; energy
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To: algore
Molten rock will not crack and the planet will not split in two, gravity will hold it together.
It will be interesting to see how well it works and what the actual impact will be, as opposed to the hyped impact that we're seeing in this thread.

41 posted on 03/02/2022 1:13:56 PM PST by BitWielder1 (I'd rather have Unequal Wealth than Equal Poverty.)
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To: Jim Robinson
The earth will crack to the core and the globe splits apart.

Then they can blame it on climate change.

42 posted on 03/02/2022 1:14:38 PM PST by unixfox (Abolish Slavery, Repeal the 16th Amendment)
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To: algore
What could go wrong?


43 posted on 03/02/2022 1:15:02 PM PST by Bubba_Leroy (Dementia Joe is Not My President)
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To: daku

Just send a nuke back down to heat it up again, like how they plan for Mars.


44 posted on 03/02/2022 1:16:04 PM PST by Greetings_Puny_Humans (I mostly come out at night... mostly.)
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To: BitWielder1

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/145198/a-muddy-mess-in-indonesia


45 posted on 03/02/2022 1:17:59 PM PST by sopo
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To: wally_bert

I think I remember that episode. Oh wow, that would have been 40 years ago and that show was old even then! Somehow the Doctor landed on an alternative earth, where they were experimenting with drilling deep into the earth. That destroyed the alternative earth. The Doctor managed to escape back to our earth and warn people not to drill too deep into the earth. He stopped a project just in time on our earth that destroyed the alternative earth.


46 posted on 03/02/2022 1:18:44 PM PST by Wilhelm Tell (True or False? This is not a tag line.)
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To: algore

i’ll prolly get slapped for this, but

once they reach a depth hot enough to create superheated steam, why keep drilling?

volume?


47 posted on 03/02/2022 1:19:33 PM PST by Chode (there is no fall back position, there's no rally point, there is no LZ... we're on our own. #FJB)
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To: volunbeer

To be clear, I don’t know that this will work nor do the people proposing to invest so heavily in it.

On paper, this is one of the most intriguing ideas out there and it has been for a very long time but a cool idea is no guarantee of success with so many uncertainties.


48 posted on 03/02/2022 1:21:43 PM PST by volunbeer (Find the truth and accept it - anything else is delusional)
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To: algore

“I wonder how this ends, I have seen a lot of tv shows and movies where it ends badly.”

True, but the plus side is then we won’t need to worry about climate change at all.


49 posted on 03/02/2022 1:22:24 PM PST by The Antiyuppie (When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day.)
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To: volunbeer

M#y primary concern about this idea is how would you prevent upward migration of magma”

Screen made of titanium over the end... lol


50 posted on 03/02/2022 1:22:50 PM PST by BiglyCommentary
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To: Rebelbase
> Not a good idea. If they go deep enough Ted Kennedy might escape.

Its posts like this that make me wish FR had a "like" button !

51 posted on 03/02/2022 1:24:44 PM PST by SecondAmendment (This just proves my latest theory ... LEFTISTS RUIN EVERYTHING !!!)
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To: algore

52 posted on 03/02/2022 1:26:25 PM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: dfwgator

Isn’t that guy dead? I mean, dead dead?

Kinda like general Franco?

5.56mm


53 posted on 03/02/2022 1:29:27 PM PST by M Kehoe (Quid Pro Joe and the Ho need to go.)
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To: algore

That last not coming true wasn’t the fault of the nuclear advocates, but the fault of governments and lawsuit happy envirowackos.


54 posted on 03/02/2022 1:31:53 PM PST by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: BiglyCommentary

“HOW ON EARTH DO THEY THINK THEY CAN KEEP A 12 MILE DEEP HOLE OPEN?!!”

Bill Clinton has had to confront this very question.


55 posted on 03/02/2022 1:33:25 PM PST by MercyFlush (DANGER: You are being conditioned to view your freedom as selfish)
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To: algore
"probably just run some cooling coils, besides downstream they could have a bonus tropical fish hatchery"

Manatees even, like in Florida.
Enclose a small area and grow some oranges too.

56 posted on 03/02/2022 1:35:14 PM PST by blam
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To: algore

I’m planning on developing a money tree. All I need is $40 million and IF I am successful, you’ll get all your money back and a Journey To The Center Of The Earth!


57 posted on 03/02/2022 1:36:08 PM PST by faucetman (Just the facts, ma'am, Just the facts )
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To: algore

They are going to let the air out of Mother Erf.


58 posted on 03/02/2022 1:36:08 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on mycreen name for my FR home page.)
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To: TomGuy

“It hits a certain fault and splits the planet into pieces and spews out magma, creating our own asteroid belt.”

“Magma”


59 posted on 03/02/2022 1:36:55 PM PST by EQAndyBuzz ("Todays conspiracy theory is tomorrows spoiler alert." )
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To: algore

Why drill? Can’t they just go to an active volcano?


60 posted on 03/02/2022 1:37:05 PM PST by faucetman (Just the facts, ma'am, Just the facts )
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