Timeline for Geothermal instead of fossil and nuclear?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
9 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 27, 2022 at 0:44 | comment | added | Perkins | @OscarBravo Mostly it would be terribly unwise to switch from a cheap-to-extract energy source where the wells have a short lifespan to an expensive-to-extract energy source where the wells have a short lifespan. When you deplete an oil well you only have to move the drilling setup to a new location. When you deplete a thermal layer you have to move the entire power plant and reroute the transmission lines. | |
| Jan 26, 2022 at 21:13 | comment | added | Peter - Reinstate Monica | This is literally the first time I have seen that something on the planetary level is insufficient for our civilization. The first glimpse of what it means to become a Kardashev scale Type I civilization, isn't it? | |
| Jan 26, 2022 at 10:17 | comment | added | Oscar Bravo | @Luaan We shouldn't do it because it'll run out in a few generations? That never stopped the fossil fuel industry for one second... | |
| Jan 26, 2022 at 7:50 | comment | added | Eric Duminil | @WaterMolecule: Yup. That's about the only good thing about BTU. | |
| Jan 25, 2022 at 18:42 | comment | added | WaterMolecule | @MichaelSeifert didn't realize that the BTU and kilojoule were such similar units. | |
| Jan 25, 2022 at 14:11 | comment | added | Michael Seifert | @towe: It's one of those units you have to get used to if you want to read about the US energy system, unfortunately. It even has a brief Wiki article. In terms of more sensible units, it's about 5% larger than an exajoule. | |
| Jan 25, 2022 at 14:06 | comment | added | towe | Quadrillion BTUs... ew. | |
| Jan 25, 2022 at 7:47 | comment | added | Luaan | Not to mention that even if it were viable all over the world... geothermal wells have a limited lifetime. They're not quite as fossil as coal, but on human time scales, they might as well be - a good spot might get 50-100 years of the very high efficiency around 10%, but then you have to wait another 200-500 years for the heat reservoir to replenish. If we magically changed all our power generation into geothermal overnight, we'd be creating a hell of a energy crisis for our kids :D Not every place sits right on top of a spreading boundary... | |
| Jan 24, 2022 at 23:44 | history | answered | Michael Seifert | CC BY-SA 4.0 |