Comments on: Google energy guru hot on geothermal

Google.org's Dan Reicher says enhanced geothermal has three times the potential of wind, and Google will soon release its PowerMeter energy monitoring software.

[The1egend]

"Oil and gas companies are well suited for this business since they know about drilling and geology. "

The companies most likely not to want to do this for you...

[MD_Willington]

Wrong, oil and gas companies have the "know how" and technology to drill, and drill deep.

Very few geothermal wells in the United States are deeper than 2,750 m (9,000 ft)

See http://www1.eere.energy.gov/geothermal/pdfs/future_geo_energy.pdf

[AlbertoPlantilla]

The Philippines has one of the most efficient geothermal plants in the world, and could definitely serve as a model for plants in the US
http://bit.ly/hNAtj

[rapier1]

Of course, its not entirely that simple. Deep well geothermal and deep well injection has been around for some time and its not entirely risk free. Toxic mineral contamination has been reported at some sites and there seems to be a tenuous but not disproven connection between seismic activity and deep well injection in some locations. Still, as an energy source there is a lot of promise here.

[scottthesculptor]

And it's predictably continuous - unlike solar and wind

[theBike1945]

Geothermal is quite variable from the western to eastern US regions - the temp and energy are a lot higher out west. There is also the issue of induced earthquakes resulting from injecting water in hot rock structures, and the issue of materials that can withstand the enviornment, as well as the likelihhod that a "well" will go bad after a relatively short period. It's sort of like drilling oil wells, but not as reliable. Geothermal is one of those things, like
hydrogen fuel cells, or wind power, that tends to look really good until you get into the actual details. I also object to putting a ton of money into stuff like this when its obvious that nuclear power can easilt supply al of our carbon free energy and has worked more or less perfectly for the past 50 years and is now more reliable than ever. Siphoning money away from nuclear into crappy and unreliable energy sources like wind and solar is brainless. What a confused country. Just another way that China is beating the crap out of us. They finance our enormous deficit, shortly to be doubled thanks to the new administration. They are building 10 nuclear plants every decade. We can't even figure out where to store spent nuclear fuel (how about reprocessing it?) . This country is just plain incompetent. I guess that is Google's salvation. A company that made millions looking for keywords can hardly be called competent to do anything else.

[MD_Willington]

Why not build breeder reactors or CANDU reactors to reprocess the waste.

Seems simple enough.

[DeathByWonkavision]

True, we should definitely make better utilize nuclear power. The French got this right. It is the world's biggest exporter of electric power. Its carbon emissions per kWh is extremely low, more than tenfold less than that of other Western European countries. Its electricity is also very CHEAP by European standards. All thanks to nuclear, which contributes nearly four-fifths of its electric output.

However, I think you are wrong about geothermal. In a sense, it is just as viable as nuclear--if not more so. At a fundamental level, geothermal is really a form of "clean nuclear." The earth's core is sort of like a gigantic nuclear reactor-- one that generates more than enough heat to drive a steam turbine.

[joad2]

What the hell is wrong with Solar....why do we need to poke holes deep in our planet, something we'll never understand the ramifications of until it may be too late, when the energy we so desperately crave is pouring over us EVERY SINGLE DAY on the surface? Ask anyone who has worked a labor job and they will tell you the simplest way is ALWAYS the best way.... why stick your head in the sand to look for something that is all around us on the surface right now.... Anyway, the answer to our energy needs isn't going to be one major solution like fossil fuel...it's going to be a bunch of complimentary technologies....solar, wind, geothermal, hydro, wave power, ... who knows what else....renewable energy is all around us...the arguments come when the greedheads that want the monopoly of control on our "free" energy start flapping their gums....let me put it this way.....I can't dig 9000 feet to get my energy...someone else will have to do that and set up the system for me...then is that it? Or do I have to keep paying someone for all this "free" energy? But I can install solar myself and once it's up, guess what...it's mine...same idea with windmills...and that technology is getting more efficient and needs less space every year.....ease of installation, once it's up it's YOURS, no power bill.....what's not to love? OK I was wrong....let's all do it the hard and dangerous way.....we all like to suffer for our power don't we?

[Burnsie001]

The geothermal power they are talking about here is Baseload power. You don't have a a coal filed generator and a coal mine in your back yard any more that a 9000' hole. The solar power you generate requires mined and manufactured materials which also leaves holes in the planet. The power you get is not free, its just all paid for up front. I could give the same money to my power company and get the same effect. I could put the money in an interest bearing account and use the interest to buy my power for the same effect. As for wind, wave, hydro, solar being the saviours of the planet, these all have significant environmental impacts that your are simply ignoring. What's wrong with solar? inefficient, unreliable, expensive, and has a huge environmental impact on a large scale.

It looks like we can also look underground for cooling solutions.

http://blog.syracuse.com/green/2009/01/new_formula_for_cool_air_make.html