First Google.Org-funded geothermal mapping report confirms vast coast-to-coast clean energy source

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.smu.edu/News/2011/geothermal-24oct2011.aspx

First Google.Org-funded geothermal mapping report confirms vast coast-to-coast clean energy source

October 25, 2011

DALLAS (SMU) – New research from SMU’s Geothermal Laboratory, funded by a grant from Google.org, documents significant geothermal resources across the United States capable of producing more than three million megawatts of green power – 10 times the installed capacity of coal power plants today.

Sophisticated mapping produced from the research, viewable via Google Earth at www.google.org/egs, demonstrates that vast reserves of this green, renewable source of power generated from the Earth’s heat are realistically accessible using current technology.

The results of the new research, from SMU Hamilton Professor of Geophysics David Blackwell and Geothermal Lab Coordinator Maria Richards, confirm and refine locations for resources capable of supporting large-scale commercial geothermal energy production under a wide range of geologic conditions, including significant areas in the eastern two-thirds of the United States. The estimated amounts and locations of heat stored in the Earth’s crust included in this study are based on nearly 35,000 data sites – approximately twice the number used for Blackwell and Richards’ http://smu.edu/geothermal/2004NAMap/2004NAMap.htm">2004 Geothermal Map of North America, leading to improved detail and contouring at a regional level.

Based on the additional data, primarily drawn from oil and gas drilling, larger local variations can be seen in temperatures at depth, highlighting more detail for potential power sites than was previously evident in the eastern portion of the U.S. For example, eastern West Virginia has been identified as part of a larger Appalachian trend of higher heat flow and temperature.

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[madrchsod]

1. 25 years ago com ed in illinois tested for geo thermal generation

north western illinois consists of granite that can be used to heat water to turn turbines. the plan has been sitting for 25 years now. com ed also realized that several small nuke plants were a better design than one large plants but the politics were to great to overcome.

[libinnyandia]

2. Coal and oil companies

But that would hurt the poor coal and oil companies. We can't have that. I'm sureb they would try to argue that it would cause earthquakes and volcanoes.

[msongs]

3. and combine that with politicians with no vision nt

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. Well… about those earthquakes…

Yeah, it can happen, however…

http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/37584/

Geothermal without the Earthquakes

An underground "heat nest" design avoids the need to fracture the rock.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

A startup in Connecticut says it has a way to improve the reach of enhanced geothermal energy, without the financial or geological risks associated with such projects.

Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) represents a promising source of clean power generation in geographies that lack the ideal combination of underground heat, water, and rock permeability needed for conventional geothermal. But with EGS, developers typically have to engineer the conditions they require, and this involves fracturing solid rock by pumping fluids into wells at high pressure, an approach that has raised concerns about the potential to trigger earthquakes and contaminate aquifers.

The problem, called "induced seismicity," led to the cancellation in 2009 of a http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v462/n7275/full/462848a.html">project in Basel, Switzerland, after the high-pressure fracturing of rock around the well caused hundreds of seismic events, some large enough to damage property. In North America, EGS developer http://www.altarockenergy.com/nyt.html">AltaRock Energy has been caught up in a similar controversy.

"You can get seismic events with any kind of fracturing," said http://cee.mit.edu/einstein">Herbert Einstein, a professor of rock mechanics in MIT's department of civil and environmental engineering. "If you do it close to a city, it's an issue."

…

[jwirr]

5. I went in to watch the videos and it sounds good but one thing bothered

me. The top video was telling how it is done. They talked about drilling down to the hot section of the earth and inserting water down there to absorb the heat by fracturing the rocks. Isn't that what we are doing in fracking?

Read the answer in #4. Thank you.

[OKIsItJustMe]

6. “Fracking” means “hydraulic fracturing”

So, yes… in general, it’s the same basic process.