[Open Source Energy] Geothermal

[PatrickHenry]

Energy differentials are a proven source of energy , but the temperatures need a certain spread and the heat sinks large. The investment would be substantial. This island where I live had a lengthy experiment with Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion, using deep cold ocean water to power it with a working fluid of refrigerant:
http://www.nrel.gov/otec/what.html

OTEC, or ocean thermal energy conversion, is an energy technology that converts solar radiation to electric power. OTEC systems use the ocean's natural thermal gradient—the fact that the ocean's layers of water have different temperatures—to drive a power-producing cycle. As long as the temperature between the warm surface water and the cold deep water differs by about 20°C (36°F), an OTEC system can produce a significant amount of power. The oceans are thus a vast renewable resource, with the potential to help us produce billions of watts of electric power. This potential is estimated to be about 1013 watts of baseload power generation, according to some experts. The cold, deep seawater used in the OTEC process is also rich in nutrients, and it can be used to culture both marine organisms and plant life near the shore or on land.

Also see :
http://www.eere.energy.gov/RE/ocean_thermal.html

But this is not backyard tech, either.

[tman_ndsu08]

Quote by: m3talsmith_redu Ok I like the idea of pipes down into the ground to tap into steam, and the hotspot areas (usually related to volcanic activity), but how can the common man tap into this, and where? That's the first question we need to define.

The common man shall purchase electricity from the power company who will be tapping these thermal sources. And at a much cheaper price than burned coal.

[gallo]

Quote by: tman_ndsu08 The common man shall purchase electricity from the power company who will be tapping these thermal sources. And at a much cheaper price than burned coal.

Cleaner too. However, not all that possible in most places.

Also cheaper and cleaner than burned coal is nuclear power. I know no one is going to build a reactor in their back yard, but we did the whole bit wrong in this country. And then we let ourselves be frightened by Three Mile Island and then Chernobyl. So we never did develop a comprehensive nuclear power option.

France did. I have heard that they get around 90% of their power from nuclear. But instead of designing and engineering huge plants from scratch, they developed a single plan for smaller reactors, and made them all the same. It makes educating engineers and technicians a lot easier. If you know one plant, you know them all.

No so in the U.S. We thought it a better idea to design and engineer every plant individually, and then go through an expensive approval process, followed by custom construction (followed by delays and errors that inflate costs).

Why not cookie cut every plant? Why all of the design, engineering and custom construction costs?

Isn't it strange that most major US warships are nuclear powered? How many nuclear accidents have you heard about on Navy warships?

[tman_ndsu08]

And then we let ourselves be frightened by Three Mile Island and then Chernobyl.

You mean big oil companies used this inncident to scare the law makers in Washington into keeping us from using non hydrocarbon based energy sources.

[Pooeypants]

Those incidents are also insignificant compared to the damage that global warming will do in the century to come.

[MerlinsByte]

Why not cookie cut every plant? Why all of the design, engineering and custom construction costs?

mb....I agree 100%.

I suspect the real reason we dont have most of our electric produced by fission plants is that oil and coal powers that be dont like nuclear.

Or thier PACs dont. (they should be called CAPs corporate action committees)

These minions of greed are effective and vile.

[Livemike]

Quote by: tman_ndsu08 Nothing in the universe violates thermodynamics. You're possibly thinking of a perpetual motion machines, which would violate the law if ever built. So far, no one has ever built one nor will anyone ever be able to. The basic idea (I think) would be to stick very long pipes into the ground where the earth's very hot sub layers would heat up water in the pipes to steam. Then the steam could turn turbines for electricity. Of course this works great, but no one will invest in it. Power companies all use coal burning plants. They're not going to waste a bunch of money to build the infrastructure to use geothermal or any other source for that matter.

OK, a few corrections, first the pipes don't need to be that long if the crust is weak.
Like for instance in New Zealand near the boiling mud place (I forget what it's called).
The NZ government ran high pressure pipes through the areas that had hot water/steam
coming up. Some of the heat was transfered from the steam in the rock to the water
in the pipes. This created steam to drive the turbines. It was possible to take so
much energy out that the groundwater cooled down and stopped working, but only
temporarily. It's fairly low cost limited in output but renewable source. It supplies a
significant percentage of NZ power requirements.
Clearly since the scheme has been operational for some time people have invested
in GT. Maybe you meant to say that they haven't invested in "deep geothermal". That
is quite possible but it's less obvious that deep GT is economically feasible.

[Livemike]

Quote by: Pooeypants Those incidents [Three Mile Island and Chernobyl] are also insignificant compared to the damage that global warming will do in the century to come.

They are insignificant compared to the damage done by silicosis aka Black Lung
Disease and you won't find anyone denying that is due to the coal industry.

[tman_ndsu08]

Quote by: Livemike OK, a few corrections, first the pipes don't need to be that long if the crust is weak. Like for instance in New Zealand near the boiling mud place (I forget what it's called). The NZ government ran high pressure pipes through the areas that had hot water/steam coming up. Some of the heat was transfered from the steam in the rock to the water in the pipes. This created steam to drive the turbines. It was possible to take so much energy out that the groundwater cooled down and stopped working, but only temporarily. It's fairly low cost limited in output but renewable source. It supplies a significant percentage of NZ power requirements. Clearly since the scheme has been operational for some time people have invested in GT. Maybe you meant to say that they haven't invested in "deep geothermal". That is quite possible but it's less obvious that deep GT is economically feasible.

Yes, thanks.

[Technosoul]

Outside the box concepts.

People have talked about using ocean waves to generate energy, they are fairly constant and should work about the same as water over a dam, or in a river.

Now for the other side of the box - trying to capture lightening bolts might be okay on a rainy day, but I was wondering about acturally creating artifical lightening energy. With knowledge about how clouds and the earth connect to produce lightening we could (always perhaps) duplicate that process its self. Although inventers seeking a potential patent wish to keep things secret they sometimes blab alot. One guy on the radio was talking about his free-energy contraption. He said that we have lots of dormit energy in space - not outerspace but everywhere on earth - that "stilled energy" can be activiated and put to use he claimed. I think it had something to do with magnets spinning around and around to generate energy the center of that motion - by activating energy in the air. (unseen energy). He could not get a patient for his invention and so no one wanted to invest in his device (he claimed) but stated the court case. He did get a patient in India and a scientist over there built a small plant using his technology - enough to provide energy for a small village (town). That scientist apparently won first place for that idea at some international science-award get-together. (according to the radio program). Once the plant was built it operates cost free, and uses nearly no oil products with acception of small batteries to generate the first spinning cycles. (possible maintantence costs might be requried - but no cost for oil, gas, water, or such things).
Some of the energy is recycled to keep the battery charged to keep the magnets (whatever?) in operation.

anyone else ever hear of such a thing?