4 ms·
Yes, I agree, I was surprised they bothered to mention trying to seriously mine heat from hard rock, it seems like running fluid through a bore horizontally bar
by neltnerb 6y ago
Yes, I agree, I was surprised they bothered to mention trying to seriously mine heat from hard rock, it seems like running fluid through a bore horizontally barely solves the conductivity issue since heat still has to get to the walls of the bore.
I'm not sure if you are unaware but:
"In 2007, Japan had 535.2 MW of installed electric generating capacity, about 5% of the world total."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_power_in_Japan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_power_in_Japan
Which sure, is the total equivalent of like two nuclear cores so small by any absolute measure, but they seem to be trying?
- Gibbon1 6y agoConsider Northern California has about 900MW of geothermal installed and the state isn't really known for geothermal activity. Japan which is known for that, what are they doing?
- neltnerb 6y agoTo give California some credit, it is slightly physically larger than Japan, has far more open space without people despite the bay area (my first thought was "would they really be willing to wreck the onsens and such that have been there for a thousand years?"), is on active tectonic plates, and has been pretty focused on this for a while.
- fomine3 6y agoAgainst by local onsen owner is a main blocker. It's hoped and some develop is ongoing, but we also like onsen.