
US Dept of Energy estimates geothermal power's untapped potential - mimixco
https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/06/report-geothermal-could-power-up-to-16-of-us-grid-by-2050/
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saeranv
I worked on a laboratory building in a cold climate recently. Labs typically
consume a ton of energy (relative to offices/residences) due to the energy
spent on conditioning and forcing air for fumehoods.

We investigated a couple of different ways of reducing energy: PV, wind,
efficient HVAC systems, and Ground Source Heat pumps (GSHP). The GSHP reduced
the energy consumption of our building by over 50%, where the rest were barely
hitting 10%.

I haven't personally seen it installed at a residential level, but if it's
affordable (which, given cheapness of natural gas may not be) could be huge in
cold climates.

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ryanmercer
Not to be too crazy but, geothermal scares the hell out of me. How many works
of fiction involve something like tapping Yellowstone Calderra and bye bye
life as we know it when it is weakened too much and kaboom!

Mind you it is survival/disaster 'porn' but Bobby Akart has a book series
where exactly this happens. Some joint government-private entity power plant
drills into the calderra, and like some companies are known to do cuts corners
and drills much deeper than all the experts recommended, it compromises
everything just enough that Yellowstone starts erupting.

Sure, there are safe places/ways to do this (hello Iceland) but something
about it just seems crazy. Nuclear, sure it's something you can easily control
the reaction and with a proper setup can even safely 'shut down' but drilling
holes relatively deep into the earth to take advantage of geothermal heat,
eeesh that (mostly irrationally) bugs me a lot.

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mimixco
The new potential of geothermal comes from the fact that you don't have to
drill very deep anymore. Instead of water, it uses fluids with a lower boiling
point. In some places, like Boulder, Colorado, you can even install geothermal
in your own backyard and use it to heat your house. It's actually a common
solution there.

