Is Geothermal the Perfect Energy Source?

Is it the perfect energy source? Not quite. Geothermal is an interesting energy source that takes advantage of the natural heat of the planet. It is long lasting, and doesn't cause substantial pollution or emissions, but is very limited by location/siting.

[NomenNescio]

Very good video, awesome presentation.

The host is well spoken, well read on the subject and gives an intelligent impression.

I am impressed.

[rocksandoil]

Many wells (deep) encounter very high temperatures. I've seen BHT's of 300 F in many areas. And other areas are not very hot at all at reasonable depths. And a closed loop system, may be less efficient, but avoids much of the problem with scale. Which is why I am an advocate for the subject you wished to avoid. Small scale home heat pumps. Clearly heating and cooling is the big issue with energy use. Super insulation, geothermal heat pump, propane refrigerator, and solar/wind to run lights is a viable "off grid" solution. I recall my late father in law showing me the old shed that they housed a 36 v Delco wind generator to charge a couple of batteries for lights in his parent's house in the 30s. And people living in vans with solar panels prove those can be viable as well. Decentralization of the energy system is a good thing in my mind.

[janbugaj]

Brilliant! I have been speaking about developing the process for a number of years! While the world rotates and revolves heat will be sustainable!

[Ironic]

Drilling relatively shallow boreholes for ground source heat pumps, just to heat a home, can be quite useful, but has the same high upfront costs, even if lower temperatures than those required for steam generation are usable.

[fredclarke]

Just heard the 'Heavy Rock' music at the end. It should be 'Permeable Rock'. LOL

[rustyscrapper]

After I did some research I concluded residential geothermal is just electrical powered and running tubes underground just adds a heat exchanger that slightly reduces energy cost but at the cost of installing a $20, 000 system so you might as well just keep paying the electric bill.

[billybell]

The biggest hurdle is usually political. Dealing with the EPA would be a nightmare . " We're from the government and we're here to help" scary words said Mr. Regan. Excellent report.

[ivermec-tin]

My only experience with geothermal electrical generation is from "The Geysers" in Lake County near Middletown in Northern California. It is a cautionary tale of how to do everything wrong in such a facility. It was built and is operated by PG&E, a vast private monopoly that wields enormous political clout in Northern California.

First, it is an open system, not a closed one. Second, PG&E was too greedy, reckless, and stupid to buy up water rights in the area sufficient to provide the necessary H2O to pump into the wells. Instead, they signed a contract with the City of Santa Rosa to accept primary treated sewage water for this purpose. This sewage water has to be pumped thousands of feet and many miles up hill from Santa Rosa to reach The Geysers.

Third, the open nature of this system causes frequent earthquakes that impact neighboring properties for miles around. It is a certainty that this primary treated sewage will eventually find it's way into the wells and ground water of anyone unfortunate enough to live downstream from the site.

Fourth, PG&E is so reckless and irresponsible that they stalled for over 18 months on replacing a temporary primary high voltage line from The Geysers facility, where it interfaces with the grid. It failed a few years ago, sparked, and caused several hundred acres and hundreds of structures to burn down from Cobb Mountain clear to Middletown.

Fifth, the facility has never run at capacity. It is a cautionary tale of just how wrong things can go when the regulatory scheme is not up to the task of ensuring that geothermal power plants are properly designed, implemented, operated, and maintained. I honestly do not believe that such private and for profit power companies are capable of operating such a facility in a safe and responsible manner, as is done in Iceland.

Traditional sod and stone houses in Iceland routinely utilized geothermal heat. They were built largely underground.

[myvibe]

Thank You for your superb presentation. Harnessing energy from natural sources is common sense. It’s only a matter of time for sensibility to endure and becomes the normal. ( Or am I living in a fantasy world ) It could be in place now, if it wasn’t for the greed of those who make Climate and Energy issues their priority to become illegitimately wealthy, the benefits of cheap energy are far reaching, but those with the cash don’t share.

[stever]

It's a good idea until the volcano or volcanic area decides to eat your power plant.
It's happened in Hawaii

[dmacf]

Per your headline. In cases where geothermal is economically competitive with existing electricity production it is an excellent source of power.

[spacescatatford]

Eavory uses a closed-loop system that doesn't require high temperatures. This system can be used anywhere in the world.

[sthomper]

just curious, with all the underground movment of the water anyway and pressure variances does extracting and pumping back-in really make that much more geological instability to lead to more tremors?

[piscesDRB]

In theory the source is "rock solid" (pardon the pun)! But I think there problems with fouling.of heat transfer surfaces? Common in parts of Scandinavia and Russia? Community heat networks!

[andrewblack]

We have decades of experience here using it. It has made people sick with gassing. We moved entire communities away from it as a result. The noise and pollution is serious. Add in that the wells become clogged frequently and they constantly need to make new wells. So it’s not great, not really green. That’s our experience, it’s not what I think about something, it’s what has happened

[GaryR]

Geothermal power is in use, to some extent, here in Washington State. Addendum: the statement I read, however, suggests it's a good replacement for fossil fuels. Gee, why not replace wind and solar, which probably aren't providing even as much power as geothermal and hydro? In fact, most of Washington's power comes from hydro. Seattle City Light supplies power that is entirely from hydro.

[dongaetano]

OK Heartland - I've been commenting on other good guy sites to get presenters who are pleasant in voice and appearance, well informed on the subject matter, have credentials and can interact well with higher level guests or fellows.

I usually don't watch too much Heartland videos as the scientists are far to jocular in the discussions, too much goofing around with bad humor and sarcasm, dressed too casually in appearance to have a professional visual appeal.
After watching a few of Linnea's series videos, I'M LINKING THEM TO FRIENDS - WHY? Because she checks all the boxes I've mentioned in this message that describe a person that can reach the other side of people who might disagree with the realist climate group.
She does it with humility, knowledge, credentials, in her seriuos, informed, presentations without hyperbole or name calling.

Take this example and talk to other climate groups and discuss using presenters frequently, even in conversations with great scientists who may be less communicative.

I watched a recent video of Richard Lindzen in a speech overseas where he got lost in analogies wandering a bit in his presentation and it was mostly flat. He tried to recover at the end with some powerful points but had lost the audience in my opinion. It was a small gathering with some people there seemed to be on the fence who i doubt were swayed by his speech.
You take someone like Linnea questioning him for specific, scientific, answers and she might have drawn the best out of him, and he's among our best!

I'll stop here. Sorry to sound insulting but I'm concerned that we are preaching to the choir often times. We need to convince the common citizens and sink the false narrative like the Bismark or Titanic. It's a destructive narrative with multi-billions going to waste that could be very helpful used properly.
Stay well everyone at Heartland. Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend.

PS: I suggest you lose the guitar distortion, it's a bit rough, doesn't fit the venue, my opinion of course and I'm an old guy - but -I still like ZZTop.
And I'll apologize again for being so tough on you all. I'm frustrated we can't kill this narrative off, it's so weak scientificly. Stay well Heartland crew!

[ziegle]

Often extremely corrosive "geothermal" can have quite a bit higher emissions than natural gas, and that includes CO2.... Except if you have extremely easily available geothermal like in Iceland, nuclear fission is far preferable, as is natural gas.

[rayw]

Hi, Anglo-American mining are building a brilliant mine south of Whitby in NE England.
It is going down nearly a mile (1.4km).
Extracting a near perfect potash fertiliser.
Surely that could be used for geothermal during and after?

[stevecurran]

there are in Europe who would disagree after their towns were destroyed by drilling for geothermal power.