3 ms·

No, I mean we should use the motion of the water, not its heat. Like in hydroelectricity where water spins a turbine instead we are using a steam generator like

by a1371 5y ago

No, I mean we should use the motion of the water, not its heat. Like in hydroelectricity where water spins a turbine instead we are using a steam generator like gas fired plants

manarth 5y ago
A steam turbine essentially _does_ use the motion of the water. In conventional hydroelectricity, gravity causes the motion through the energy differential of the waters' height. In a steam turbine, the potential energy is from the high temperature of the water, and the energy input to rotate the turbine comes from the temperature differential of the steam cooling. In theory you could capture the hydroelectric energy of the water on its way down a 12 mile hole, but that gravitic potential energy is negligable compared to the energy difference between superheated steam and water.
Rapzid 5y ago
Geothermal does use the "motion" of the water.
- napier 5y ago
  There’s no need to drill down ultra deep if you leverage recent advances in horizontal drilling to creat a series of looping branches off of a central trunk, as it were. Can run a closed loop of circulating fluid too, which offers numerous advantages and obviates risk of fracking related earthquakes, as well as avoiding the corrosion challenges problematic with legacy approaches.
re6fae5Wied5tha 5y ago
There's no reason to drill for this, and 6 miles down at 1000C presets less than ideal operating conditions for a turbine. Any peak over about 2000ft should be sufficient for an atmospheric water generation plant to produce enough water for a down hill hydroelectric plant to power the atmospheric water generation plant with single digit ambient RH, and much lower elevations can be used in high RH climes. I would recommend orienting collectors to the windward side to exploit the local humidity gain, in lower RH climes. One of my projects is actually a water condensation, hydroelectric and gas liquefaction combined cycle plant. That said, bores in areas with deep ground water do present an interesting opportunity for pumped storage, with the caveat that the turbomachinery is back in the bore hole and that's a really inconvenient place to fix it when it breaks.

by a1371 5y ago

No, I mean we should use the motion of the water, not its heat. Like in hydroelectricity where water spins a turbine instead we are using a steam generator like gas fired plants

manarth 5y ago

A steam turbine essentially _does_ use the motion of the water. In conventional hydroelectricity, gravity causes the motion through the energy differential of the waters' height. In a steam turbine, the potential energy is from the high temperature of the water, and the energy input to rotate the turbine comes from the temperature differential of the steam cooling. In theory you could capture the hydroelectric energy of the water on its way down a 12 mile hole, but that gravitic potential energy is negligable compared to the energy difference between superheated steam and water.

Rapzid 5y ago

Geothermal does use the "motion" of the water.

napier 5y ago
There’s no need to drill down ultra deep if you leverage recent advances in horizontal drilling to creat a series of looping branches off of a central trunk, as it were. Can run a closed loop of circulating fluid too, which offers numerous advantages and obviates risk of fracking related earthquakes, as well as avoiding the corrosion challenges problematic with legacy approaches.

re6fae5Wied5tha 5y ago

There's no reason to drill for this, and 6 miles down at 1000C presets less than ideal operating conditions for a turbine. Any peak over about 2000ft should be sufficient for an atmospheric water generation plant to produce enough water for a down hill hydroelectric plant to power the atmospheric water generation plant with single digit ambient RH, and much lower elevations can be used in high RH climes. I would recommend orienting collectors to the windward side to exploit the local humidity gain, in lower RH climes. One of my projects is actually a water condensation, hydroelectric and gas liquefaction combined cycle plant. That said, bores in areas with deep ground water do present an interesting opportunity for pumped storage, with the caveat that the turbomachinery is back in the bore hole and that's a really inconvenient place to fix it when it breaks.