US Geothermal Power Potential 10x That Of Coal Power Plants, New Analysis Shows

[bananas]

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/10/united-states-geothermal-power-potential-10-times-coal-power-plants.php

US Geothermal Power Potential 10x That Of Coal Power Plants, New Analysis Shows
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 10.26.11

A new assessment of the geothermal power potential of the United States shows that the nation has roughly 3 million megawatts available and waiting to be tapped using the latest enhanced geothermal drilling methods -- that's 10 times the installed capacity of the nation's coal-fired power plants.

The research, done by Southern Methodist University's Geothermal Laboratory and funded by Google.org (the philanthropic arm of Google), shows that the latest drilling methods open up areas for geothermal power that were once inaccessible.

<snip>

That said, as the map at the top of this post clearly shows, the truly huge geothermal power potential of the United States still resides in the westernmost third of the nation.

The entire project is also available in a Google Earth layer, giving state-by-state analysis.

<snip>

3 million megawatts = 3,000 gigawatts = 3 terawatts

[NickB79]

1. I thought geothermal was primarily useful for heating and cooling applications

Whereas coal is used largely for electrical production :shrug:

Are the two now as interchangeable as the article implies?

[PoliticAverse]

2. The article mentions steam....

Where you have steam you can drive turbines that generate electricity.

[izquierdista]

4. Hot enought to spin a turbine

If you are getting superheated steam at 400 degrees, you can use that to spin a conventional steam turbine and make electricity. Nevada Power is doing research and development since there are many sources in the state that fall into that category.

[kristopher]

9. There are 3 types of geothermal power plants

From wiki:
Geothermal power stations are not dissimilar to other steam turbine thermal power stations - heat from a fuel source (in geothermal's case, the earth's core) is used to heat water or another working fluid. The working fluid is then used to turn a turbine, which in turn a generator to produce electricity. The fluid is then cooled and returned to the heat source.

Dry steam power plants
Dry steam plants are the simplest and oldest design. They directly use geothermal steam of 150°C or greater to turn turbines.<2>

Flash steam power plants
Flash steam plants pull deep, high-pressure hot water into lower-pressure tanks and use the resulting flashed steam to drive turbines. They require fluid temperatures of at least 180°C, usually more. This is the most common type of plant in operation today.<22>

Binary cycle power plants

Main article: Binary cycle
Binary cycle power plants are the most recent development, and can accept fluid temperatures as low as 57°C.<11> The moderately hot geothermal water is passed by a secondary fluid with a much lower boiling point than water. This causes the secondary fluid to flash vaporize, which then drives the turbines. This is the most common type of geothermal electricity plant being constructed today.<23> Both Organic Rankine and Kalina cycles are used. The thermal efficiency of this type plant is typically about 10-13%.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_electricity

[NickB79]

15. That's cool!

I didn't know about the binary cycle plants. Thanks.

[bananas]

12. You're thinking of ground source heat pumps

About a foot below the frost line, the temperature is fairly constant around 60 degrees fahrenheit, and can be used as a source or sink for heating and cooling for a heat pump. The pipes only have to be a few feet underground.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_heat_pump

Air-source heat pumps use the air as a source/sink, they are basically reversible air conditioners:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_pump#Air-source_heat_pumps

[FBaggins]

3. That's like citing how much "oil" is in the Green River formation in Colorado...

...and ignoring how much of it is economically recoverable.

Or how much wind or sunshine there is over the entire US.

Geothermal energy production seems to make lots of sense (though there are apparently earthquake concerns)... but this is just an exercise in big numbers. Not realistic ones.

[OKIsItJustMe]

6. I don’t believe it is

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

…

“This assessment of geothermal potential will only improve with time,” said Blackwell. “Our study assumes that we tap only a small fraction of the available stored heat in the Earth’s crust, and our capabilities to capture that heat are expected to grow substantially as we improve upon the energy conversion and exploitation factors through technological advances and improved techniques.”

…

In this newest SMU estimate of resource potential, researchers used additional temperature data and in-depth geological analysis for the resulting heat flow maps to create the updated temperature-at-depth maps from 3.5 kilometers to 9.5 kilometers (11,500 to 31,000 feet). This update revealed that some conditions in the eastern two-thirds of the U.S. are actually hotter than some areas in the western portion of the country, an area long-recognized for heat-producing tectonic activity. In determining the potential for geothermal production, the new SMU study considers the practical considerations of drilling, and limits the analysis to the heat available in the top 6.5 km (21,500 ft.) of crust for predicting megawatts of available power. This approach incorporates a newly proposed international standard for estimating geothermal resource potential that considers added practical limitations of development, such as the inaccessibility of large urban areas and national parks. Known as the ‘technical potential’ value, it assumes producers tap only 14 percent of the ‘theoretical potential’ of stored geothermal heat in the U.S., using currently available technology.

…

[kristopher]

8. Poor Baggins....

Something seems to have adversely affected your reading comprehension lately. Is it possible you're being "driven to distraction" by the cascade of bad news for the nuclear fission industry over the past 3 years?

Massive development of wind, a newly discovered massive resource in offshore wind, massive investment in solar manufacturing causing plummeting prices, and now a new resource assessment showing massive technologically accessible geothermal resources. And conversely we have massive escalation of nuclear costs and a massive failure of their culture of safety resulting in a massive meltdown of three reactors.

That is a bad equation any way you figure it.

Doesn't this really put the last nail in the coffin of new nuclear power? It won't lay down and die, of course, as it is still a politically powerful force because of its quasi-governmental status. But, with the scale of this resource the last false argument for nuclear is simply no longer going to convince even the most gullible...

Maybe those protesters portraying it as a "zombie industry" are on to something, eh?

[madokie]

10. From what I've read about geothermal I believe it is the way of the future

sure there is some hurdles here and there but for the most part nothing is insurmountable. Let big oil or the nuclear industry be in control and we'd have geothermal power plants popping up everywhere its even remotely possible. Both you seem to like. :hi:

Rec'd the OP

[RC]

11. I agree. Just because it is known to be there does not mean we can get at it.

Or even get useful energy from it, even if we can get at it.
Lay a topography map over the map in the link to give you an idea of how hilly the western part of the US is. Don't forget economy of scale when drilling holes in the ground. Especially when the going gets hot.

[OKIsItJustMe]

5. See also…

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=115&topic_id=314946&mesg_id=314946

[AndyTiedye]

7. Kicked, Recommended, and Bookmarked

:kick:

[Yo_Mama]

13. I thought that several of these projects had been halted?

http://greensource.construction.com/news/2009/090914Geothermal-Job.asp

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Files/docs/esc2010/abstract/geothermal.pdf

http://www.powermag.com/issues/features/Assessing-the-Earthquake-Risk-of-Enhanced-Geothermal-Systems_2309.html

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v462/n7275/full/462848a.html

I understand the fracking concerns, but geothermal deep wells use a similar technology with similar dangers.

I don't know how serious the risk really is:
http://esd.lbl.gov/research/projects/induced_seismicity/egs/geysers_risk.html

But I do know that there is some risk - and it is probably not totally understood.

[kristopher]

14. A few hundred megawatts out of 60,000MW? Just say, "Here, have some FUD".

December 23, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the new market research report 'Global Geothermal Power and Heat Pump Market Outlook: (2010-2015)', published by MarketsandMarkets, the global geothermal installed capacity, including power generation and direct use, is expected to grow from 61,200 MW in 2010 to 120,300 MW in 2015 at an estimated CAGR of 14% for the same period.

How do local tremors from construction compare to mountaintop removal? Or explosives used during the massive mining projects to obtain uranium?

I once experience a single month in Tokyo with more than 10,000 microquakes of the type described in the article.

All 4 posts by nuclear supporters on this thread are dedicated to spreading FUD about geothermal. Only the nuclear supporters are so inclined.

Coincidence?