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"Just Have A Think" put out a video about geothermal energy today. Iceland and California both have large faults they use for short distance access (3km) to the

"Just Have A Think" put out a video about geothermal energy today. Iceland and California both have large faults they use for short distance access (3km) to the >200 Celsius available at an average depth of ~40km everywhere else in the world. I'm not sure of the implications of drilling that deep, but since horizontal drilling is required for steam return - could it ever be an avenue down which to deploy drilling assets that were originally used for fracking? If oil prices stay depressed, and California achieves total ban of gasoline vehicles before 2035, then oil demand is going to drop more and it would be good to continue to utilize advanced drilling tech that would ultimately be able to start up a grid anywhere there is lower than average crust depths.

Manfredo_1 6y ago
The problem with geothermal power is that it's only feasible in a few areas. California already generates about 5% of its electricity from geothermal power: https://ww2.energy.ca.gov/almanac/renewables_data/geothermal/index_cms.php#:~:text=Due%20to%20its%20location%20on,hours%20(GWh)%20of%20electricity https://ww2.energy.ca.gov/almanac/renewables_data/geothermal....
- moneytide1 6y ago
  Yeah because of the fault line bringing mantle temperature closer. I think they have drilled 3km to tap into this heat, whereas the deepest hole ever dug so far is in Russia at a depth of around 10km (small diameter). Drilling was limited at this distance because of increasing heat. If we could figure out how to drill a large enough hole at those ~43km crust lengths, wouldn't tectonic activity shift shafts out of alignment? Metallurgy, abrasives, and durable gearing are to conventional drills (Howard Hughes Sr) as perhaps focused optics would be to future drilling as depicted in lots of sci fi. Either way - tunneling itself is so much the challenge as would be removing the aggregate. How hilarious would it be to have drilled so far deep vertically to access the mantle that you'd have to use rockets to remove the ore. Space elevator/launch concept also has massive material penalty.

Manfredo_1 6y ago

The problem with geothermal power is that it's only feasible in a few areas. California already generates about 5% of its electricity from geothermal power: https://ww2.energy.ca.gov/almanac/renewables_data/geothermal/index_cms.php#:~:text=Due%20to%20its%20location%20on,hours%20(GWh)%20of%20electricity https://ww2.energy.ca.gov/almanac/renewables_data/geothermal....

moneytide1 6y ago
Yeah because of the fault line bringing mantle temperature closer. I think they have drilled 3km to tap into this heat, whereas the deepest hole ever dug so far is in Russia at a depth of around 10km (small diameter). Drilling was limited at this distance because of increasing heat. If we could figure out how to drill a large enough hole at those ~43km crust lengths, wouldn't tectonic activity shift shafts out of alignment? Metallurgy, abrasives, and durable gearing are to conventional drills (Howard Hughes Sr) as perhaps focused optics would be to future drilling as depicted in lots of sci fi. Either way - tunneling itself is so much the challenge as would be removing the aggregate. How hilarious would it be to have drilled so far deep vertically to access the mantle that you'd have to use rockets to remove the ore. Space elevator/launch concept also has massive material penalty.