Oregon college drilling for 1st geothermal plant

[Fledermaus]

The Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls has long used the heat trapped deep in the earth from ancient volcanoes to heat dorms and classrooms, melt snow from sidewalks, and keep the swimming pool warm.

Now they are drilling deeper to tap a hotter source of geothermal energy in hopes of generating all their own electricity, saving money and cutting back its carbon footpri

"We'll be the first campus in the world to be 100 percent geothermally powered from a resource directly on campus," crowed John Lund, director of the college's Geo-Heat Center.

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/01/15/ap5925988.html

[madokie]

1. The more geo-thermal the better

Is there a downside to using the heat of the earth such as this?

[The2ndWheel]

2. If it has to be actively drilled for, then I'd say yes

That heat is where it is because of some geological reason. When we start extracting it, harnessing it, and using it, we can't help but increase the impact we have. Hunting with sharp sticks increased our impact. We may not know exactly how it increases our impact for a year, a decade, a century, whatever, but as long as we exist within physical reality, there will always be a downside.

[madokie]

4. of course there will always be a downside

And from that answer you gave what could I take from it?

[The2ndWheel]

6. That we can't escape

The more energy we use, the larger our impact. The less energy we use, the smaller our impact.

Hunting and gathering has an impact, since nothing can exist without having an impact. Farming and animal husbandry has a larger impact. Using dead energy(oil, coal, etc) has a larger impact. Using live energy(solar, wind, wave, etc), the energy that helps regulate life on the planet, can only increase our impact, since we will extract it, harness it, and use it for the narrow requirements of a single species. The specifics of the downsides, who knows. I'm sure there are many possibilities, and they're all as interwoven and as complex as life on this planet.

[Fledermaus]

3. Gosh, every thing we do has some sort of down side...just too many people.

What geothermals downside is I don't know, but I'm willing to buy $300 of geothermal penny stock.

Youtube stuff...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6r_3AgI49Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EDy6v5q2Io&NR=1

[madrchsod]

5. we could do the same here in northwestern illinois

commonwealth edison tested the area years ago and found the granite was ideal to drill for thermal generation of electricity. geo thermal and the amount of windmills that are being built today would mean northwestern illinois could supply all the power needs in this region of the state. in fact southern wisconsin and northeast iowa is made up of the same geology. "god`s county" could produce a lot of electricity with a small environmental impact

[kristopher]

7. DOE Information on geothermal technologies and resources

Hydrothermal Power Systems
Photo of geothermal power plant.

Geothermal power plant in the Imperial Valley, California.

There are three geothermal power plant technologies being used to convert hydrothermal fluids to electricity. The conversion technologies are dry steam, flash, and binary cycle. The type of conversion used depends on the state of the fluid (whether steam or water) and its temperature. Dry steam power plants systems were the first type of geothermal power generation plants built. They use the steam from the geothermal reservoir as it comes from wells, and route it directly through turbine/generator units to produce electricity. Flash steam plants are the most common type of geothermal power generation plants in operation today. They use water at temperatures greater than 360°F (182°C) that is pumped under high pressure to the generation equipment at the surface. Binary cycle geothermal power generation plants differ from Dry Steam and Flash Steam systems in that the water or steam from the geothermal reservoir never comes in contact with the turbine/generator units.

<snip>

The Future of Geothermal Electricity

Steam and hot water reservoirs are just a small part of the geothermal resource. The Earth's magma and hot dry rock will provide cheap, clean, and almost unlimited energy as soon as we develop the technology to use them. In the meantime, because they're so abundant, moderate-temperature sites running binary-cycle power plants will be the most common electricity producers.

Before geothermal electricity can be considered a key element of the U.S. energy infrastructure, it must become cost-competitive with traditional forms of energy. The U.S. Department of Energy is working with the geothermal industry to achieve $0.03 to $0.05 per kilowatt-hour. We believe the result will be about 15,000 megawatts of new capacity within the next decade.

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/geothermal/powerplants.html

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/geothermal/ This is the home page. Worth browsing.

[bhikkhu]

8. "Experimental" geothermal power plant, it should say

even though the article itself seems pretty certain. The technology for converting heat to power is old and well developed, but it hasn't worked out very well yet for geothermal.

I've talked to lots of people in Klamath Falls about it over the years, and the general trend is that small individual wells to heat homes are not economical - there hasn't been one drilled in a while, and several existing wells have been closed up rather than repaired. The larger project the city has going heats sidewalks and bridges around downtown, and is being shut down for extensive repairs in Spring. The corrosive nature of the briny hot water is one problem. There are several long term goals, such as a geo-power plant and expanding the city hot water network to heat buildings, but it has all been batted around for years and every year everyone, government included, seems to be even more broke.

It would be great if OIT can get it done, but the costs given in the article would make it by far the most expensive project ever undertaken in Klamath Falls, and the college itself has been perpetually dealing with budget problems.

[kristopher]

9. Your criticisms are, I believe, outdated.

I've heard the same things from old systems but there are new materials for the closed loop home systems. The large scale technologies are also coming of age. The situation at OIT sounds distinctly different from what you are describing; they are going deeper and start drilling next week.

BTW: Welcome back. You've been gone a while...


DOE has some pubs for download if you're interested:
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/geothermal/publications.html
Here you'll find the Department of Energy's most recent publications about enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) technologies and research and development activities.

The following publications are available as PDFs. Download Adobe Reader.

* Geothermal Tomorrow, including its Addendum (PDF 2.0 MB), 2008.
* An Evaluation of Enhanced Geothermal Systems Technology (PDF 7.2 MB), 2008.
* Risk Mitigation Strategies Report—Deloitte (PDF 774 KB), 2008.

For technical research papers and reports, also see DOE's national laboratory publications.

For all DOE-sponsored geothermal publications, including those published prior to 2008, visit the DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information's Geothermal Technologies Legacy Collection.

[bhikkhu]

10. No doubt many wells are outdated, as far as the materials used

and many contractors are outdated, as far as what they know about drilling and setting up geothermal wells and heat transfer equipment. All of which could be remedied by money and resources...but there lies the problem.

I am sure the new administration will do a better job than the last. I am sure, at least in Oregon, that potential "stimulus" money won't just go to more highways and old-tech jobs.