7 ms·
I, for one, didn't know before reading this that the temperature gradient is so large, about 25C/km. Being someone who, if I had to guess, has never been more t
by a-priori 15y ago
I, for one, didn't know before reading this that the temperature gradient is so large, about 25C/km. Being someone who, if I had to guess, has never been more than a hundred metres underground or so, I assumed it was about an order of magnitude lower than that.
- icegreentea 15y agoAlso, that cooling system they use is amazing. Just coat entire caverns with ice in the winter, store for summer. Duh.
- jarin 15y agoThe new Case Middle School buildings at Punahou (my alma mater) use something like that, but on a smaller scale. They freeze water at night when electricity is cheaper and then use it for cooling during the day. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punahou_School#Case_Middle_School http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punahou_School#Case_Middle_Scho...
- speg 15y agoWhy not, when the mine is done, install a bunch of turbines in the shaft and pour a bunch of water down to 4km, send the steam back up to the top and voila! Endless power.
- sorbus 15y agoCongratulations, you've just reinvented geothermal power!
- sliverstorm 15y agoThe fun part is remembering most of geothermal power is derived from nuclear decay. So really, it's nuclear power! Of course, really, in the end everything is nuclear power. Sunlight (solar panels) is a byproduct of nuclear activity. Fossil fuels are plants that grew by the light of the sun; wind is a result of heating of the atmosphere by the sun, and hydroelectric is a result of heating of the ocean by the sun.