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Geothermal Energy — from Deep in the Earth
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Geothermal: (A reader commnets, January 31, 2009)
Something I hope you look into is Geothermal. It's like nukes in that it boils water but without all the fuss. Under all of the US west of the Rockies is really hot rock. There are single stage processes using water or dual stage using ammonia. Some web sites assume you need hot springs or surface heat but really all you need is the new deep drilling techniques used for oil wells and some investment. Google has recently invested and has some info.
Not to be confused with geothermal heat pumps used for heating and cooling in the eastern US, although that is smart, too.
Most discussions of alt energy omit geothermal althogether. It really needs more visibility and awareness. No carbon. Works at night. Once accessed, the energy is free. Inexhustable within the heat transmitting capability of area being used (can always just go deeper to get more). The western US is the Saudi Arabia of GeoThermal.
—Chuck
Geothermal: (Al's analysis)
Currently, geothermal produces about 0.4% of US electricity. An MIT study predicts that within 50 years about 100 GWe can be obtained affordably from geothermal [7]. The eia [4] points out that there are limited sites for expnding geothermal and does not project much growth. Here, we assume a contribution between the eia and the MIT assessments. Optimistically, we assume that within 25 years, we could produce 25 GWe using geothermal (~2.5%). Thus, using the usual process, geothermal GHG reduction is about 0.5%. Perhaps half that amount is more realistic (0.25% GHG reduction); because the ability to field practical geothermal may take some time.
• Likely: –0.25% (eia and MIT data considered)
• Max –0.5% (using eia and MIT data, optimistic)
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http://zfacts.com/p/1109.html | 01/18/12 07:17 GMT
Modified: Sun, 01 Feb 2009 22:42:13 GMT
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