Why Is Canada Freezing out Geothermal Power?

[15444]

Compared notes with neighbor this fall on geothermal. Have similar sized house and external heating requirements in the form of waterbowls for livestock. His house is less than 5 years old, well insulated and heated with 2 loops of pipe 6' deep. My house is 60+ years old, poorly insulated and heated with outdoor wood boiler. He thought his system was the cats ass. Asked him what his power bill was in a year - 6k+. Dropped my jaw. I get a little upset if mine goes over 3k in a year. So if paying double for power doesn't phase you, by all means go geothermal. Of course he was also bitching that his bill was too high - told him you pay for convenience.

[WiltonRanch]

FWIW if you are living in an older house or even a newer one you are money ahead to invest in economical improvements which will reduce energy consumption. LED lights, extra insulation, well sealed double pane windows at the very least ( triple pane windows don't pay for the extra cost yet), high efficiency furnaces, on demand hot water heaters etc. No one is going to rush out and replace a perfectly functioning lower efficiency furnace until it craters but windows is a good start and changing light bulbs. When I put my house up 6 years ago I had an extra wrap of reflective insulation put on. Cost an extra $2500 but for the lifetime of the house I think it more than pays for itself. I lived in an old doublewide before and it burned as much propane as my house with more than twice the square footage. Even a styrofoam concrete basement can be efficient but cost over a wood one I wonder if it pays.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

For the record, I think we are talking two different concepts here. See this note in the article:

[Editor’s note: The geothermal energy generation source discussed in this article is not to be confused with ground source pumps tapped a few meters underground and used for heating and cooling, which The Tyee reported on here.]

The geothermal referred to in the article requires holes many kilometers deep, and no outside electric power source.

I've run the numbers on heat pumps, and efficiencies, and it really doesn't work around here, once electricity costs are factored in. Now, maybe if there was a way to store the solar energy with the heat pumps, and tie the systems together, that might make both make sense.

Temperature gradient of earth at the surface is 25 C per kilometer. We are drilling oil wells to 10km occasionally. So the technology does exist, even in the center of a continent with no tectonic plate activity. And like Oneoff noted, two holes are required.

[WiltonRanch]

For the record, I think we are talking two different concepts here. See this note in the article:

[Editor’s note: The geothermal energy generation source discussed in this article is not to be confused with ground source pumps tapped a few meters underground and used for heating and cooling, which The Tyee reported on here.]

The geothermal referred to in the article requires holes many kilometers deep, and no outside electric power source.

I've run the numbers on heat pumps, and efficiencies, and it really doesn't work around here, once electricity costs are factored in. Now, maybe if there was a way to store the solar energy with the heat pumps, and tie the systems together, that might make both make sense.

Temperature gradient of earth at the surface is 25 C per kilometer. We are drilling oil wells to 10km occasionally. So the technology does exist, even in the center of a continent with no tectonic plate activity. And like Oneoff noted, two holes are required.

Yes we're talking apples to oranges here. There is more tectonic activity on parts of the prairies than we know. Ideally if you could send cold down and bring up near boiling you'd be laughing. Cost to drill and case 2 deep holes you're in the millionish range. I'm no oil guy but I'd surmise you need a big triple to go that deep. How much pump would it take to lift that far down?

[oneoff]

Has a new tolerance level just been set for GMO's, or herbicides; insecticides; even man made chemical fertilizer; and now any renewable energy resource product.

Must one just create their definition of a "green" or organic product and then all your warts and flaws instantly become socially and environmentally acceptable to "feel gooders"

This last post just become the all time classic definition of hypocrisy at its extreme.

[oneoff]

Wilton, I happen to know a guy who does drill holes in the foothils with really big rigs. They are on hard times the last while and he had one rig out of the whole fleet working for the last while...and that one was probably only making expenses.

This isnt your normal drilling job. That fellows firm was retrofitting one rig at I forget how many millions of costs so the derrick could more drill stem. The bigger stem hook load weight was astronomical.

Just think of the racking required to hold 10 to 15 km's of drill stem. I would say it would be next to "impossible". But thats what real challenges are made of.

You'r talking man camps and weeks if not months; if not years of drilling time. And any kind of problem and you lose a lot more than just the hole.

As somebody confirmed...then you need at least two of them. Just reaching 10,000 feet to get to solid granite below sedimentary rock is a feat in itself.

I forget the details; but years ago the Russians were trying to drill to a record setting depth and I think they twisted of because of pipe failure from the extremes of pressure and heat.

A good mud pump would be essential; and the mud man would earn his keep

[15444]

I forget the details; but years ago the Russians were trying to drill to a record setting depth and I think they twisted of because of pipe failure from the extremes of pressure and heat.

[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz6v6OfoQvs"]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz6v6OfoQvs[/URL]

[sumdumguy]

About 40 years ago my brother trenched in horizontal geothermal in his farm yard with the expectation that several buildings could be heated and cooled. The system was rot with problems and it was a good thing that he still had his furnace. Now, with natural gas to fire our chambers, I think we already have clean emissions.

[WiltonRanch]

[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz6v6OfoQvs"]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz6v6OfoQvs[/URL]

Good video. I remember hearing about this years ago in a college geology class. Same thing the heat put an end to further progress. Even so if we could identify the "hot spots" on the prairies where shallower holes would yield some good heat it would cost astronomically.