Alaska Looks To Volcanos For Geothermal Energy 230
Iddo Genuth writes "Alaskan state officials have recently announced their intention to begin funding the exploration and surveying of Alaska's largest volcanoes in hopes of utilizing these as a
source of geothermal energy. They say this volcano could provide enough energy to power thousands of households, and according to some estimates, Alaska's volcanoes and hot springs could supply up to 25% of the state's energy needs."
Heat + Air = Hot Air? (Score:5, Informative)
Going a bit astray, has anyone seen the episode of Science Channel's "Eco-Tech" featuring the rooftop windmills [youtube.com] designed by Aerotecture [aerotecture.com]? Pretty cool.
Yellowstone is funny (Score:3, Informative)
Yeah, I have wondered the same thing. It seems that if you lower the temps, it might make it better. Of course, it could make it worse. But hey, do research during the time that we are taking the heat.
Re:Yellowstone is funny (Score:3, Informative)
Water vapor is a greenhouse gas (Score:2, Informative)
Scary, isn't it? Unless we carefully condense the steam even geothermal energy doesn't solve global warming. And at present, we don't.
me <- geothermal fan
But we have to be aware of the consequences of everything. We can breed our way out of the benefits of geothermal energy in under a century even if we condense the steam.
Re:Iceland vs Greenland (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Heat + Air = Hot Air? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Heat + Air = Hot Air? (Score:5, Informative)
yes, it is definitely possible to 'deplete' a geothermal resource, but it will recover given enough time ( lots of time ). For example the Wairakei geothermal field here in New Zealand has depleted somewhat because they oversized the geothermal plant when it was built and it has been running for 60 years! ( but we forgive them, it was built in 1958, and it is the second oldest geothermal power plant in the world ). The wikipedia article on geothermal power describes depletion in more detail
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_power [wikipedia.org]
heheheh (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, SOME wind generators have killed birds (esp one in CA). But over all have not. More important, these are MUCH better on birds than the pollution being put out by coal plants.
The same issue with the mercury in CFL. The CFL has a small amount of Mercury, but FAR FAR less than what is put out by a CLEAN coal plant using a regular bulb.
The geo-thermal requires anywhere from 1 to a 100 holes. But there are plenty of dried wells in places like Colorado that make a great low-temp place (esp, since many wells were already drilled close). Secondly, oil pulls up the exact same sediments. In fact worse, because most are drilling FAR deeper these days. But by using a closed system, esp. with binaries, the pollution on the land and in the air is gone. So that leaves just that below. And since the way of the hole is piping, you really do not interfere with the local water table (barring a shallow heat reservoir). As to the multiple holes, that is also a none issue. Slant drilling works wonders. A single pad with 5 holes will do the trick. Even the EPA says it is one of the cleanest form of energy.
Re:Heat + Air = Hot Air? (Score:5, Informative)
"solar probably can't deliver the wattage".
Yeah, right, it's not like the sun would deliver 168 PW to the Earth at any given time, while mankind "only" uses 500EJ a year.
500EJ/168 PW ~= 50 minutes worth of solar radiation would be enough to power whole mankind for a year.
Geothermal sources can really be interesting, but you need to find good ones, and still dig a few kilometers if you want to get high-quality heat and produce electricity. You don't need to dig an inch to collect solar radiation.
Re:Heat + Air = Hot Air? (Score:4, Informative)
True in theory, nonsense in practice. It's ok to think long-term. But it is silly to concern oneself with problems whose first possible date of appearance is many millenia into the future. There are just so many unknowns in such speculation that it is meaningless.
Geothermal is of that magnitude -- you'd have to tap a thousand times our current energy-use for millenia to even have a measurable impact.
Re:Heat + Air = Hot Air? (Score:5, Informative)
Legend has it that the name of Iceland is an ancient Viking fraud. Erik the Red sailed out into the ocean beyond Scotland, and discovered two new countries there: one rich and green and worth settling, and one frozen and barren and utterly worthless. He named one Iceland, and the other Greenland; when he got home, all the other Vikings rushed off to claim lands in Greenland, and Erik got to keep Iceland for himself.
Re:Heat + Air = Hot Air? (Score:3, Informative)
Iceland generates 26.5 of its electricity from geothermal power.
And of course 73.4% is from hydro power, and only 0.1% from fossil fuels. (probably generators at very remote locations?)
So the only fuel they import is to power vehicles!
Now if only they could find a way to export electricity, they would be loaded beyond belief.
Re:Heat + Air = Hot Air? (Score:4, Informative)
The so called 'solar constant' is actually 1.367 (that should be enough decimals) KW / square meter.
The actual power produced depends on the angle of incidence (lattitude) and the local weather (cloud cover).
The current crop of commercially available solar cells hovers around 16% efficiency when new, the best lab models do 40%+ ( http://www.doe.gov/news/4503.htm [doe.gov] ).
Then of course there's concentration and all kinds of tricks to capture that power in a different form than electricity, and here the efficiencies can be considerably higher still. Electricity is the 'steak' of the power industry, but there are plenty of uses for 'burger' (heat).
Re:Heat + Air = Hot Air? (Score:4, Informative)
First and foremost I am against nuclear power, but...
To be fair to it, uranium is not the only fuel.
Thorium breeder reactors will work as well.
Thorium is much more common, about as common as lead.
And in a breeder setup it "makes" uranium.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium#Thorium_as_a_nuclear_fuel [wikipedia.org]
That being said, man's history with reactor safety is poor.
Wind, Solar, Geothermal, Tidal, Bio fuels, and Ocean Current
Capture is more than enough power by far.
The Antarctic current alone is 135 times the flow of all
the rivers on Earth Combined and the Aquanator style device
works well at capturing it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_Circumpolar_Current [wikipedia.org]
Needless to say there are many other underwater currents
with a great deal of power, and some can be harnessed
to some degree without a negative impact.
So let's play SeaLab and make a modern Atlantis and end
this oil mess before it turns the oceans in a hydrogen
sulfide soup.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/11/031104063957.htm [sciencedaily.com]
So in a range of choices, anything but oil.
The oceans are a giant CO2 sink, so as much as we measure
in the air it is worse in the oceans.
Re:Geyserville, CA (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Water vapor is a greenhouse gas (Score:4, Informative)
Sorry but you have been misinformed (probably by those who are not geothermal fans). There is no need to condense the steam, yes it's true that H20 is a powerfull GHG but that is only part of the strory. The atmosphere is already more or less saturated with H20 (eg: dew drops form in desrerts every night and evaporate in the heat of the day), adding more H20 won't affect the temprature because it simply falls out somewhere else as rain/dew.
In other words the total amount H20 in the atmosphere stays relatively constant regardless of how much steam we pump into it.
Re:Heat + Air = Hot Air? (Score:5, Informative)
Iceland had already been settled by Erik's time - he didn't discover it. He was exiled from Iceland because of some killings with which he was closely associated, and he sailed away to the northwest, where the existence of land was rumoured but unconfirmed. It's true that he gave it the name of 'Greenland' for marketing purposes, hoping to encourage settlement there, but during the Mediaeval Warm Period Greenland wasn't quite as inhospitable as it is today, so we cannot fairly accuse Erik the Red of fraud. Only murder. But he was a Viking, so that's to be expected.
On wind and solar (Score:3, Informative)
" Wind and solar probably can't deliver the wattage"
More important than that, what power they can and always will supply will be inconsistent. Wind isn't constant, and everyone has cloudy days. A day with no wind means no power if you're relying on windmills. And during storms, you can overload the grid. Recently in Oregon, a wind farm nearly blew the local power grid when storms pushed wind speeds so high that the windmills suddenly pushed more power into the system than it could handle. Wind and solar will always supplement other sources, not replace them.
Re:Heat + Air = Hot Air? (Score:3, Informative)
solar probably can't deliver the wattage.
Have you even seen an outdoor concert with a massive lighting array that can't compete with the sun?
There is definitely plenty of power to be gotten from solar. The problem has been that solar panels are 15-18% efficient, and those that do not follow the sun lose 1/3 to oblique sun angles.
However solar thermal generators that follow the sun with parabolic mirrors can produce upwards of 60% efficiency, which means the power requirements of the typical power-frugal home can be provided by a rooftop generator with a 6' diameter mirror, pumping out a steady 1500W whenever the sun is out.
Add another for each of your electric cars, and we stop burning coal and gas. That represents 73% of greenhouse gas emissions.
Re:Water vapor is a greenhouse gas (Score:1, Informative)
There is no need to condense the steam, yes it's true that H20 is a powerfull GHG but that is only part of the strory. The atmosphere is already more or less saturated with H20
Beautiful argument. I'm a physical biochemist and you are 100% correct by the laws of thermodynamics and chemical equilibria. Why you aren't +5 Insightful by now is boggling. Mod that bad boy up!