5 ms·

In the article it's said the proposal already included 160 plants in a big ring around yellowstone, resulting in the 16,000 years figure. So to get it down to

In the article it's said the proposal already included 160 plants in a big ring around yellowstone, resulting in the 16,000 years figure. So to get it down to 100 years you'd need 160^2 = 25,600 geothermal plants. Perfectly reasonable, let's do it.

pacificmint 3y ago
Plus you’d take a great step towards solving our energy problems.
- Maxion 3y ago
  We'll except the fact that deep geothermal plants are completely theoretic as a means of production - the final cost of power is a big ???. Most people want cheap power. Anything over around 20 cents a kWh makes it uncompetitive to fossile equivalents (e.g. wood / oil / gas heating).
  - thorncorona 3y ago
    California is 50c/kwh…
    - vlovich123 3y ago
      According to https://www.eia.gov/electricity/state/archive/2021/ https://www.eia.gov/electricity/state/archive/2021/ the average retail price for California was 20..
      - iwontberude 3y ago
        sounds great but anyone living downtown is paying over $0.50/kWh
        quickthrower2 3y ago
        Solar must be damn attractive
        anarazel 3y ago
        Hm? I live in SF and it's considerably below that on average? https://www.bls.gov/regions/west/news-release/averageenergyprices_sanfrancisco.htm https://www.bls.gov/regions/west/news-release/averageenergyp... says the area averages ~0.35$
        arwineap 3y ago
        Downtown where? LADWP switched to time of use scheduling, so my rates are anywhere from 0.16/kwh to 0.21/kwh ( https://www.ladwp.com/ladwp/faces/ladwp/residential/r-customerservices/r-cs-understandingyourrates/r-cs-ur-electricrates https://www.ladwp.com/ladwp/faces/ladwp/residential/r-custom... ) SCE is a little more expensive with their tiered plans ranging from 0.32/kwh to 0.42/kwh For context, downtown LA should be all on LADWP
        iwontberude 3y ago
        Downtown San Jose is around $0.75/kWh if you use power to heat/cool your 2BR unit.
  - danans 3y ago
    > We'll except the fact that deep geothermal plants are completely theoretic as a means of production Not theoretical at all: https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/geothermal/americas-first-enhanced-geothermal-plant-just-got-up-and-running https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/geothermal/americas-fir...
  - soco 3y ago
    In theory the cost of the whole thing blowing up should offset this investment costs but Don't Look Up (2021) convincing the folk about potential natural disasters.
  - ben_w 3y ago
    Not only does it already exist, it's cheap enough that Kenya has some and wants more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_power_in_Kenya https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_power_in_Kenya Judging by the price tag of 9.1 Ksh/kWh listed on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Kenya https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Kenya (and looking up historical exchange rates because of the date of the link and their persistent inflation), that's about 0.085-0.090 USD/kWh.
    - AdamN 3y ago
      iirc it works well in Kenya because the thermal gradient is really steep and the heat is right near the surface. I don't think that's common around the world. Local expenses (labor, etc...) are also cheaper than in many parts of the world. Geothermal is however one of the electricity sources with the fewest negative externalities so definitely should be pursued where possible.
      - nathancahill 3y ago
        Touring the geothermal at Hell's Gate Park in Kenya is wild. If you've seen The Lion King, it's the inspiration for "the shadowy place over there" where the hyenas live.
      - hollerith 3y ago
        Extract enough heat from Earth and Earth loses its magnetic field and then its atmosphere and oceans (from the effects of the solar wind) which sounds like a negative externality to me.
        jesse9766 3y ago
        We'll (and humanity itself) be long dead by then
        hollerith 3y ago
        If you haven't done a calculation incorporating an estimate of the heat content of the Earth's interior, then you cannot know whether humanity will be dead by then.
  - Denote6737 3y ago
    "Anything over around 20 cents a kWh makes it uncompetitive" Cries in European
    - Kuinox 3y ago
      Don't mistake price of production and selling price. When it takes times to construct additional production, you can sell the electricity at very high cost but have a low production cost.
  - AlgorithmicTime 3y ago
    [dead]
  - jackcviers3 3y ago
    This is more like insurance. If you move to the mountains, you have to pay for special fire insurance because mountains have forest fires. The U.S. is an extremely productive economy with at least one enormous cyclical natural catastrophe attached to it. If this natural catastrophe is preventable, and the costs of prevention are outweighed by the costs of losing the US economy, then it's probably worth doing. I just assumed that it was one of those things that isn't economically or technically feasible.
pram 3y ago
The Factorio method of problem solving, I like it.

pacificmint 3y ago

Plus you’d take a great step towards solving our energy problems.

Maxion 3y ago
We'll except the fact that deep geothermal plants are completely theoretic as a means of production - the final cost of power is a big ???. Most people want cheap power. Anything over around 20 cents a kWh makes it uncompetitive to fossile equivalents (e.g. wood / oil / gas heating).
- thorncorona 3y ago
  California is 50c/kwh…
  - vlovich123 3y ago
    According to https://www.eia.gov/electricity/state/archive/2021/ https://www.eia.gov/electricity/state/archive/2021/ the average retail price for California was 20..
    - iwontberude 3y ago
      sounds great but anyone living downtown is paying over $0.50/kWh
      - quickthrower2 3y ago
        Solar must be damn attractive
      - anarazel 3y ago
        Hm? I live in SF and it's considerably below that on average? https://www.bls.gov/regions/west/news-release/averageenergyprices_sanfrancisco.htm https://www.bls.gov/regions/west/news-release/averageenergyp... says the area averages ~0.35$
      - arwineap 3y ago
        Downtown where? LADWP switched to time of use scheduling, so my rates are anywhere from 0.16/kwh to 0.21/kwh ( https://www.ladwp.com/ladwp/faces/ladwp/residential/r-customerservices/r-cs-understandingyourrates/r-cs-ur-electricrates https://www.ladwp.com/ladwp/faces/ladwp/residential/r-custom... ) SCE is a little more expensive with their tiered plans ranging from 0.32/kwh to 0.42/kwh For context, downtown LA should be all on LADWP
        iwontberude 3y ago
        Downtown San Jose is around $0.75/kWh if you use power to heat/cool your 2BR unit.
- danans 3y ago
  > We'll except the fact that deep geothermal plants are completely theoretic as a means of production Not theoretical at all: https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/geothermal/americas-first-enhanced-geothermal-plant-just-got-up-and-running https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/geothermal/americas-fir...
- soco 3y ago
  In theory the cost of the whole thing blowing up should offset this investment costs but Don't Look Up (2021) convincing the folk about potential natural disasters.
- ben_w 3y ago
  Not only does it already exist, it's cheap enough that Kenya has some and wants more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_power_in_Kenya https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_power_in_Kenya Judging by the price tag of 9.1 Ksh/kWh listed on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Kenya https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Kenya (and looking up historical exchange rates because of the date of the link and their persistent inflation), that's about 0.085-0.090 USD/kWh.
  - AdamN 3y ago
    iirc it works well in Kenya because the thermal gradient is really steep and the heat is right near the surface. I don't think that's common around the world. Local expenses (labor, etc...) are also cheaper than in many parts of the world. Geothermal is however one of the electricity sources with the fewest negative externalities so definitely should be pursued where possible.
    - nathancahill 3y ago
      Touring the geothermal at Hell's Gate Park in Kenya is wild. If you've seen The Lion King, it's the inspiration for "the shadowy place over there" where the hyenas live.
    - hollerith 3y ago
      Extract enough heat from Earth and Earth loses its magnetic field and then its atmosphere and oceans (from the effects of the solar wind) which sounds like a negative externality to me.
      - jesse9766 3y ago
        We'll (and humanity itself) be long dead by then
        hollerith 3y ago
        If you haven't done a calculation incorporating an estimate of the heat content of the Earth's interior, then you cannot know whether humanity will be dead by then.
- Denote6737 3y ago
  "Anything over around 20 cents a kWh makes it uncompetitive" Cries in European
  - Kuinox 3y ago
    Don't mistake price of production and selling price. When it takes times to construct additional production, you can sell the electricity at very high cost but have a low production cost.
- AlgorithmicTime 3y ago
  [dead]
- jackcviers3 3y ago
  This is more like insurance. If you move to the mountains, you have to pay for special fire insurance because mountains have forest fires. The U.S. is an extremely productive economy with at least one enormous cyclical natural catastrophe attached to it. If this natural catastrophe is preventable, and the costs of prevention are outweighed by the costs of losing the US economy, then it's probably worth doing. I just assumed that it was one of those things that isn't economically or technically feasible.

pram 3y ago

The Factorio method of problem solving, I like it.