Alternative Energy

[den]

I wonder how viable Hot Dry Rock Geothermal Energy is. It looks do-able with the technology we have now. According to the article they showed on Beyond Tomorrow, South Australia has a heat reserve equivalent to half the Kuwaiti oil reserves.

Which is nice.

Comments

[makovette.livejournal.com]

Mmmm SO₂ Mmmm ;-)

Has Iceland beaten that problem yet?

CYa!
Mako

[annbat.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what the problems or solutions are but Iceland is mostly geothermally powered. They chose geothermal as the best of the three energy sources that can be created locally (the other two being wave energy and wind energy) and they also use the low grade heat from the geothermal for home, industry and greenhouse heating needs...very good systems as far as I can tell. Of course their government is not being lobbied by the oil and gas industries and vehicals are not needed as much on such a small rocky island.

[makovette.livejournal.com]

Sulpher is a biiig problem with geothermal heat sources. It's basically sulpheric acid which trashes the steam powered turbines. Heavy mineral deposits are also a major headache, as what the acid doesn't eat, the deposits clog up (pipes, valves &ct.).

Maintenence and parts costs are far higher than in a regular gas or coal fired generation plant as a result. If anyone has the best geothermal engineering and tech for dealing with those problems, it's gotta be Iceland, which is why I asked.

CYa!
Mako

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

This group propose to take super-heated water (+250*C) and run it through a heat exchanger to generate steam from a water/ammonia solution, and to pump the hot water back down the bore. The geothermal water won't be vented and the water/ammonia solution is in a closed system.

[makovette.livejournal.com]

PS: Your avatar gave me a good chuckle, you have great taste in icons :-D

CYa!
Mako

[annvole.livejournal.com]

Are you refering to my alternative lj name Ann Bat? If so, you can see I just flipped my Ann Vole avatar and turned the buck teeth into fangs (5 minute job).