https://techxplore.com/news/2022-02-quaise-energy-power-geothermal-drilling.html
This will get the vaccines-cause-5G conspiracy guys in an uproar.
https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2020/10/21/21515461/renewable-energy-geothermal-egs-ags-supercritical
The question I was trying to answer was this
QuoteThere is no problem with supply: the depths of our planet still smoulder from its violent accretion and the slow burn of radioactive decay. The core is a searing 6000°C, and the heat contained in the upper 3 kilometres of the crust would be enough to meet the world's energy demand thousands of times over.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24032000-300-supercharged-geothermal-energy-could-power-the-planet/
I wonder how that compares to what they said about oil and gas in 1953
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QuoteThat is because, above 374°C and 221 bars of pressure, water transforms into a supercritical fluid. As the temperature and pressure rise, says Friðleifsson, water gets lighter and steam gets heavier until they become one phase. And it's a totally different beast.Supercritical water at 400°C contains five times as much energy as water at 200°C in a typical geothermal well.
(from the New Scientist article)
> a totally different beast
Installing superheated steam was one of my dad's construction fortes. Special boilers, special pipe. 2000 psi, IIRC. That particular expertise is probably what kept him out of the service during WWII. ...Military bases loved superheated steam.
I wonder how deep/hot fracking can do?
They talk about that in one of the articles. I want to say one in Iceland is 4.6km deep and 700C or something crazy like that. Don't quote me on that.
Iceland has hot springs. So that will be close to the surface.
Cornwall has had geothermal for years, as the heat is not too deep.
This tech should be able to get waaaay deeper. If it is what it says on the tin, it should be exciting. I copied to the chap I sail with, to see if it is on his radar..... I would be surprised if its not, but heard nothing back yet.
Correct. Traditionally you needed wet heat close to the surface. The so-called EGS gets around both
1. Drilling really deep. One article I saw was talking about 10km
2. Injecting water where there isn't any - essentially fracking.
It's way lower pressure than oil fracking. In one case I read about, it sounded like they just poured cold water down the hole onto the superheated rocks and that apparently cracks them, and then it takes some months to get back up to temperature.