On: Geothermal's path to relevance: cheap drilling

[kragen]

No, this is totally irrelevant to anything in the article, except in the sense that both pertain to thermal energy and the earth. They have nothing else in common. The difference is not just a matter of sexiness; you can't run a factory, a computer, or a car off a ground-source heat pump, because heat pumps consume energy; they don't produce it.

[fulafel → kragen]

Maybe a factory, many of them use heat in the range that heat pumps are suited for.

[kragen → fulafel]

Only if they have access to another source of energy to power the heat pump and the other machinery that doesn't run on low-grade heat.

[fulafel → kragen]

Sure, factories run on many inputs, you cany do much with just electricity either :)

[kragen → fulafel]

Energy has a special place: every factory uses it, and you can do a lot with just energy, minerals, labor, and space.