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If I read this right, this is still the basic geothermal structure and idea but is really an improvement in drilling? Geothermal seems to be limited by finding
by jmyeet 4y ago
If I read this right, this is still the basic geothermal structure and idea but is really an improvement in drilling?
Geothermal seems to be limited by finding suitable places for it, which is generally where you only need to build fairly shallow wells. Building deep wells is expensive. If you can build deeper wells faster and cheaper then it opens it up to move areas.
Is that correct?
Better and cheaper drilling has way more applications thatn building geothermal wells. I mean we need to build tunnels all the time. Cheaper drilling probably has significant applications for the oil and gas industry too.
So if that's true, why the focus on geothermal? I mean I support research into renewables but it's a whole lot easier if, say, you can get the oil and gas industry to pay for your R&D, effectively.
My understanding is that geothermal energy production is still pretty low.
It's also worth noting that boiling water to steam and turning a turbine has inbuilt costs that you can't escape. There's only one power source that directly creates energy and that's solar. Additionally, solar has no moving parts (other than facing PV pannels towards the Sun, optionally).
- danans 4y ago> So if that's true, why the focus on geothermal? I mean I support research into renewables but it's a whole lot easier if, say, you can get the oil and gas industry to pay for your R&D, effectively. I believe that is what they are doing, with initial projects being related to gas exploration, and using that to refine the technology.
- u320 4y agoI've been following Quaise for a while and I have never seen any mention of such a plan. Oil and gas is into vertical drilling and fracking, which these people have little use for so the applications aren't that similar really. There are other geothermal startups doing more O&G-like drilling though.
- danans 4y agoThe CEO mentioned it during a recent interview, I think this one: https://www.woodmac.com/news/opinion/the-interchange-recharged-podcast-quaise-energy-digs-deep--into-the-world-of-geothermal/ https://www.woodmac.com/news/opinion/the-interchange-recharg...
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- Nomentatus 4y agoNote the one of those limited, presently suitable areas in the US is Yellowstone: a geographically immense caldera. But if this tech proves cheap enough, as it may in time, we'll be able tap geothermal anywhere rather than pay to transport or transmit the energy. That's what's notable about the tech: "Houde began his talk with a quote from the Department of Energy’s 2019 Geovision report, an analysis of the geothermal industry in the United States: 'Supercritical resources can be found everywhere on Earth by drilling deep enough…Drilling to this depth is financially prohibitive with existing technology…Economic production of supercritical resources will require the development of entirely new classes of drilling technologies and methods.' Quaise is working to that end." https://bioengineer.org/quaise-inc-drilling-technology-could-allow-geothermal-to-power-the-world/ https://bioengineer.org/quaise-inc-drilling-technology-could... Here's hoping the pudding will prove palatable.