Posted on 01/16/2012 7:27:17 AM PST by thackney
Geothermal energy developers plan to pump 24 million gallons of water into the side of a dormant volcano in Central Oregon this summer to demonstrate new technology they hope will give a boost to a green energy sector that has yet to live up to its promise.
They hope the water comes back to the surface fast enough and hot enough to create cheap, clean electricity that isn’t dependent on sunny skies or stiff breezes — without shaking the earth and rattling the nerves of nearby residents.
Renewable energy has been held back by cheap natural gas, weak demand for power and waning political concern over global warming. Efforts to use the earth’s heat to generate power, known as geothermal energy, have been further hampered by technical problems and worries that tapping it can cause earthquakes.
Even so, the federal government, Google and other investors are interested enough to bet $43 million on the Oregon project. They are helping AltaRock Energy, Inc. of Seattle and Davenport Newberry Holdings LLC of Stamford, Conn., demonstrate whether the next level in geothermal power development can work on the flanks of Newberrry Volcano, located about 20 miles south of Bend, Ore.
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Wells are drilled deep into the rock and water is pumped in, creating tiny fractures in the rock, a process known as hydroshearing.
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Hydroshearing is similar to the process known as hydraulic fracturing...
(Excerpt) Read more at fuelfix.com ...
I can't even do the math on 26 million gallons of water converted to steam. What's 26 million gallons times 1,100?
Operative words: THEY HOPE!
If there really is intelligent life somewhere in the universe, I sure hope they aren’t watching us. Dumping 24 million gallons of water into a volcano! No there’s an idea!
Build up pressure near Earth's surface and it will "Pop," too, with a shock wave that might circle the Earth several times ... as in the 1883 Krakatoa event.
the following is from Wikipedia:
The pressure wave generated by the colossal final explosion radiated from Krakatoa at 1,086 km/h (675 mph).[3] It was so powerful that it ruptured the eardrums of sailors on ships in the Sunda Strait[4] and caused a spike of more than two and half inches of mercury (ca 85 hPa) in pressure gauges attached to gasometers in the Jakarta gasworks, sending them off the scale.[5] The pressure wave radiated across the globe and was recorded on barographs all over the world, which continued to register it up to 5 days after the explosion. Barograph recordings show that the shockwave from the final explosion reverberated around the globe 7 times in total.[2] Ash was propelled to a height of 80 km (50 mi).<
Send all those leftist hippies in Oregon up to the top to pour a cup of water in.
Especially political energy.
It's a little early to call something the understatement of the year, however ...
The fun here is to figure out what angle the enviro-wackos will use to protest this. Because if it works, we know they will protest it.
Will it be man-made cooling of their Earth's core? Perhaps the interruption of the Earth's volcanic cycle? Plate tectonics? Destruction of the magnetic field?
Put your money down now.
I can just see the headlines now...
“Today in Central Oregon, a steam explosion shot a drilling tower into low-Earth orbit. The explosion was seen for several miles and heard in Portland.”
And how much energy does it take to pump the water into the volcano? What is the ‘gain’?
I'll take "What sounds like a really stupid idea for 500 Alex".
or Seattle...
Hold my beer ...
I don’t think I have a problem with this.
But I find it hypocritical that an “stimulus” project is called “green” while fracking for oil/gas is not - when both projects are so very similar.
Where is the outrage for the large volume of water that will be required for geothermal?
Where are the people that will be demanding that the heavy metals be removed from the waste stream?
Where are the studies on the additives? Where are the government agencies demanding that the hydroshearing formula be made public?
And by all means, lets give geothermal drilling credit for their thoughtfulness in locating their sites far from population centers, while really sticking it to oil/gas operations in western North Dakota.
I like it!
just enough to start 24 high productivity fracking oil wells.
My only problem with it is the government subsidy.
I believe the fears expressed here are greatly overblown.
But I knew the headline was good for a lot of interest and follow up.
FTFY
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