Everyone is excited with solar panels and almost every rich guy who builds a house takes into account a power solution to reduce the electric bill to minimum. At the same time, few know that the internal energy (magma) of the planet has a huge potential. For example, only 1% of geothermal reserves in the area of Australia would be able to provide electricity for 26,000 years!
To obtain geothermal energy, are necessary excavations in depth about 5 km through sedimentary rocks hard to granite layer. Water pipes will lower the bottom up, where there will be heated to 270 degrees Celsius, and then extracted back to the station that carried the exchange geothermal heat (Heat exchanger) and produce electricity. Cover electricity needs a proportion of 20% for a continent, such as Australia would require an investment of over 10 billion U.S. dollars, and the project would help more than 10 years.
- Tags: electricity, energy, geothermal, granite, heat, rocks
Phil E. Drifter
August 22nd, 2008 at 1:53 pm
You know, I read something just a day or two ago about how Google’s investing in geothermal energy and how supposedly it only accounts for 0.5% of energy seized, and they invested in 2 companies which are going to be doing exactly this; I dropped out of college because it was too damn expensive, but I was majoring in mechanical engineering, and it doesn’t seem like a real great idea to be force-fracturing the subsurface of the planet. Of course I haven’t really researched it yet, but, it seems like eventually we’ll be crushing our ground down into our molten core which will inevitably cause even more earthquakes.
Mischa
August 23rd, 2008 at 8:20 pm
I gotta agree with Phil about the constant wear and tear it would put on the earth’s crust and what can come from that. Maybe if there was just a small few of companies doing this and sharing the energy, it can work that way.
SpaceCadet
August 28th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Phil, would you like some sausages?
lol
August 28th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
delicious science fiction provoking pseudoscience comments
Obvious George
August 28th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
It’s no wonder you dropped out of college. You’re a retard Phil..
I’m all for it!! As long as someone can drill that deep, we’re good. There’s -no-, repeat -NO- risk of causing earthquakes by drilling for thermal transfer. That notion is akin to a mosquito causing you to bleed to death through the hole it creates to suck your blood.
Any way to bankrupt the oil barons of the world is a GREAT idea!
Have at Google! I encourage you to drill in my back yard as long as I can take part in your energy revolution!
Obvious George