3 ms·
Drilling is supposed to get cheaper when it is done with microwaves instead of drill bits. But the expense of maintaining the necessary steam turbine still mak
by angiosperm 3y ago
Drilling is supposed to get cheaper when it is done with microwaves instead of drill bits.
But the expense of maintaining the necessary steam turbine still makes it hard for geo to compete with wind and solar. This is also a major factor in the cost of operating a nuke plant, with similar effect on competitiveness. Really big steam turbines cost less to keep than a lot of small ones, but then you generally need to build two so you have a backup when one is down for maintenance.
- Terr_ 3y agoTIL proposals to drill with microwaves [0]. In summary, a (dumb yet durable) metal waveguide+pipe stretches down, it emits microwaves to vaporize the rock face, and gas pumped down through it is released so that it exhausts back up along with the removed mass of rock-vapor/particles. > [P]roducing the supercritical steam needed requires drilling to depths of 10 to 20 km [...] rock is capable of both producing superheated steam and destroying the microchips and seals required for directional drilling. [0] https://jpt.spe.org/microwave-drilling-sounds-like-science-fiction-but-so-does-drilling-down-to-the-hottest-rock https://jpt.spe.org/microwave-drilling-sounds-like-science-f...
- LargoLasskhyfv 3y agoThat's about Quaise Energy, which have been on HN many times in the recent past. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=Quaise%20Energy&sort=byDate&type=all https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...