3 ms·

I used to worry that might cool down the earth’s interior too quickly and regret it with mass geothermal. But waste heat (not global warming from carbon, which

I used to worry that might cool down the earth’s interior too quickly and regret it with mass geothermal. But waste heat (not global warming from carbon, which is a separate and more pressing problem) will boil the oceans in a few hundred years on our current trajectory, and now I’m for cooling as much as possible however we can.

stevenpetryk 3y ago
Apparently it could actually be beneficial to cool Yellowstone and prevent it from becoming active again.
- hunter2_ 3y ago
  I tried to search before asking, but only found the contrary. [0] How does this work? [0] https://www.usgs.gov/observatories/yvo/news/why-cant-we-drill-yellowstone-stop-eruptions-and-make-power https://www.usgs.gov/observatories/yvo/news/why-cant-we-dril...
  - shagie 3y ago
    (It's partly a reference to a previous HN post) Could We Stop Yellowstone From Erupting with a Giant Geothermal Power Plant? - https://www.construction-physics.com/p/could-we-stop-yellowstone-from-erupting https://www.construction-physics.com/p/could-we-stop-yellows... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35703906 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35703906 213 points | 8 months ago | 174 comments https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38596622 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38596622 141 points | 23 days ago | 137 comments
EnigmaFlare 3y ago
Wow. Have you got a source for that? Waste heat from human power generation and use, not from the Earth cooling? Boil as in bubbles of steam or just slightly evaporate a little? A few hundred as in < 1000 years? And current trajectory as in something like exponential growth which obviously won't happen? I'm sure some part of that makes the idea far less serious than it sounds.
- nostromo 3y ago
  It’s based on extrapolation of current trends, so I doubt it’ll actually happen. Besides, we’d all die before it got to that. But here are some sources that describe it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vRtA7STvH4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vRtA7STvH4 (commentary from Sabrine Hossenfelder, highly recommended) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-022-01652-6.epdf https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-022-01652-6.epdf https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/2011/07/can-economic-growth-last/ https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/2011/07/can-economic-growth-last/
  - EnigmaFlare 3y ago
    Thanks. The video says in 400 years the surface temperature of Earth will be 100 degrees if we assume exponential growth of heat generation. So yea it's that clearly bad assumption of exponential growth that spoils it.

stevenpetryk 3y ago

Apparently it could actually be beneficial to cool Yellowstone and prevent it from becoming active again.

hunter2_ 3y ago
I tried to search before asking, but only found the contrary. [0] How does this work? [0] https://www.usgs.gov/observatories/yvo/news/why-cant-we-drill-yellowstone-stop-eruptions-and-make-power https://www.usgs.gov/observatories/yvo/news/why-cant-we-dril...
- shagie 3y ago
  (It's partly a reference to a previous HN post) Could We Stop Yellowstone From Erupting with a Giant Geothermal Power Plant? - https://www.construction-physics.com/p/could-we-stop-yellowstone-from-erupting https://www.construction-physics.com/p/could-we-stop-yellows... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35703906 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35703906 213 points | 8 months ago | 174 comments https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38596622 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38596622 141 points | 23 days ago | 137 comments

EnigmaFlare 3y ago

Wow. Have you got a source for that? Waste heat from human power generation and use, not from the Earth cooling? Boil as in bubbles of steam or just slightly evaporate a little? A few hundred as in < 1000 years? And current trajectory as in something like exponential growth which obviously won't happen? I'm sure some part of that makes the idea far less serious than it sounds.

nostromo 3y ago
It’s based on extrapolation of current trends, so I doubt it’ll actually happen. Besides, we’d all die before it got to that. But here are some sources that describe it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vRtA7STvH4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vRtA7STvH4 (commentary from Sabrine Hossenfelder, highly recommended) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-022-01652-6.epdf https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-022-01652-6.epdf https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/2011/07/can-economic-growth-last/ https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/2011/07/can-economic-growth-last/
- EnigmaFlare 3y ago
  Thanks. The video says in 400 years the surface temperature of Earth will be 100 degrees if we assume exponential growth of heat generation. So yea it's that clearly bad assumption of exponential growth that spoils it.