“This road is long, and much of the map remains blank. The biggest problem is drilling miles through hot rock, safely. If scientists can do that, however, next-generation geothermal power could supply clean energy for eons.”
“This road is long, and much of the map remains blank. The biggest problem is drilling miles through hot rock, safely. If scientists can do that, however, next-generation geothermal power could supply clean energy for eons.”
Lol I don’t believe you read the article. Don’t lie now when anyone can scroll up and see that you wrote:
They aren’t talking about drilling for heatpumps. Not knowing what they’re aiming for is a result of not having read the article.
Current drilling technology can’t get us deep enough for the energy we need to use geothermal as a power source. The company in the article is trying a very new method using gyrotrons to vaporize the rock after traditional drilling caps hits a financial barrier.
Real Engineering just put out a video on it if you’d rather watch than read.
Your absolutely right, I didn’t read the full article. It was clearly a puff piece. There is no new science here.
Heat pump doesn’t just refer to the home heating and cooling systems, it can also be refer to any process that can boost the temperature up to the usable temperature.
Current geothermal systems dont require super critical steam right out of the ground, they boost the temp from relatively low temps (<180c) up to usable temperature. This technology has existed for decades, and can be rolled out right now, no moon shots required. Oil companies have dug down 12km, which is enough to get to 180 across a huge portion of the US.
https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/56b679/us_temperatures_at_the_depth_of_10_km_62_mi/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_cycle
I’m sorry about the fusion comment, which was rude, but I haven’t been deliberately rude to you, I’d appreciate the same.
I think we were both being rude but I’m willing to drop it
The goal of this new project from Quaise (what the article refers to) is digging deeper and cheaper. We are physically able to get to the depths needed but it’s prohibitively expensive. If the technology works (it does) and is reliable (remains to be seen outside of a lab), it’s a HUGE deal because now suddenly geothermal is cost-effective.
Also worth noting that something cool about their approach is the tunnel creates it’s own pipe