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[IMG]http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/2012/projecttopou.jpg[/IMG]
In this May 16, 2008, file photo, Newbery Crater project drilling manager Fred Wilson stands near a drilling rig at the Newberry Crater geothermal project as he describes the work near LaPine, Ore. Geothermal energy developers plan to pump 24 million gallons of water into the side of the dormant Central Oregon volcano 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. (AP Photo/Don Ryan, File)
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[B](AP) -- 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.[/B]
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.
"We know the heat is there," said Susan Petty, president of AltaRock. "The big issue is can we circulate enough water through the system to make it economic."
The heat in the earth's crust has been used to generate power for more than a century. Engineers gather hot water or steam that bubbles near the surface and use it to spin a turbine that creates electricity. Most of those areas have been exploited. The new frontier is places with hot rocks, but no cracks in the rocks or water to deliver the steam.
To tap that heat - and grow geothermal energy from a tiny niche into an important source of green energy - engineers are working on a new technology called Enhanced Geothermal Systems.
"To build geothermal in a big way beyond where it is now requires new technology, and that is where EGS comes in," said Steve Hickman, a research geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, Calif.
Wells are drilled deep into the rock and water is pumped in, creating tiny fractures in the rock, a process known as hydroshearing.
Cold water is pumped down production wells into the reservoir, and the steam is drawn out.
Hydroshearing is similar to the process known as hydraulic fracturing, used to free natural gas from shale formations. But fracking uses chemical-laden fluids, and creates huge fractures. Pumping fracking wastewater deep underground for disposal likely led to recent earthquakes in Arkansas and Ohio.
Fears persist that cracking rock deep underground through hydroshearing can also lead to damaging quakes. EGS has other problems. It is hard to create a reservoir big enough to run a commercial power plant.
Progress has been slow. Two small plants are online in France and Germany. A third in downtown Basel, Switzerland, was shut down over earthquake complaints. A project in Australia has had drilling problems.
A new international protocol is coming out at the end of this month that urges EGS developers to keep projects out of urban areas, the so-called "sanity test," said Ernie Majer, a seismologist with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. It also urges developers to be upfront with local residents so they know exactly what is going on.
AltaRock hopes to demonstrate a new technology for creating bigger reservoirs that is based on the plastic polymers used to make biodegradable cups.
It worked in existing geothermal fields. Newberry will show if it works in a brand new EGS field, and in a different kind of geology, volcanic rock, said Colin Williams, a USGS geophysicist also in Menlo Park.
The U.S. Department of Energy has given the project $21.5 million in stimulus funds. That has been matched by private investors, among them Google with $6.3 million.
Majer said the danger of a major quake at Newbery is very low. The area is a kind of seismic dead zone, with no significant faults. It is far enough from population centers to make property damage unlikely. And the layers of volcanic ash built up over millennia dampen any shaking.
But the Department of Energy will be keeping a close eye on the project, and any significant quakes would shut it down at least temporarily, he said. The agency is also monitoring EGS projects at existing geothermal fields in California, Nevada and Idaho.
"That's the $64,000 question," Majer said. "What's the biggest earthquake we can have from induced seismicity that the public can worry about."
Geologists believe Newberry Volcano was once one of the tallest peaks in the Cascades, reaching an elevation of 10,000 feet and a diameter of 20 miles. It blew its top before the last Ice Age, leaving a caldera studded with towering lava flows, two lakes, and 400 cinder cones, some 400 feet tall.
Although the volcano has not erupted in 1,300 years, hot rocks close to the surface drew exploratory wells in the 1980s.
Over 21 days, AltaRock will pour 800 gallons of water per minute into the 10,600-foot test well, already drilled, for a total of 24 million gallons. According to plan, the cold water cracks the rock. The tiny plastic particles pumped down the well seal off the cracks. Then more cold water goes in, bypassing the first tier, and cracking the rock deeper in the well. That tier is sealed off, and cold water cracks a third section. Later, the plastic melts away.
Seismic sensors produce detailed maps of the fracturing, expected to produce a reservoir of cracks starting about 6,000 feet below the surface, and extending to 11,000 feet. It would be about 3,300 feet in diameter.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management released an environmental assessment of the Newberry project last month that does not foresee any problems that would stop it. The agency is taking public comments before making a final decision in coming months.
No power plant is proposed, but one could be operating in about 10 years, said Doug Perry, president and CEO of Davenport Newberry.
EGS is attractive because it vastly expands the potential for geothermal power, which, unlike wind and solar, produces power around the clock in any weather.
Natural geothermal resources account for about 0.3 percent of U.S. electricity production, but a 2007 Massachusetts Institute of Technology report projected EGS could bump that to 10 percent within 50 years, at prices competitive with fossil-fuels.
Few people expect that kind of timetable now. Electricity prices have fallen sharply because of low natural gas prices and weak demand brought about by the Great Recession and state efficiency programs.
But the resource is vast. A 2008 USGS assessment found EGS throughout the West, where hot rocks are closer to the surface than in the East, has the potential to produce half the country's electricity.
"The important question we need to answer now," said Williams, the USGS geophysicist who compiled the assessment, "is how geothermal fits into the renewable energy picture, and how EGS fits. How much it is going to cost, and how much is available."
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[URL="http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-01-volcano-power.html"]Source[/URL]
Looks like every bad guy's lair will be flooded.
And when it erupts cities will be flooded.
[QUOTE=DiCiSpitfire;34212887]And when it erupts cities will be flooded.[/QUOTE]
you really have no idea how this works do you
Hmmm obsidian
[QUOTE=DiCiSpitfire;34212887]And when it erupts cities will be flooded.[/QUOTE]
You do relize that when water is heated it goes into a gas state, in this case, called steam, right?
It doesnt just lie on top of the lava?
This will be interesting, probably going to cause some mass disruption in the earth's core and destroy us all.
Think positive!
[QUOTE=AaronM202;34212921]You do relize that when water is heated it goes into a gas state, in this case, called steam, right?
It doesnt just lie on top of the lava?[/QUOTE]
Flooded with [B]steam[/B].
I wonder how it will effect the vulcano. Will it erupt on the other side because part of it cooled?
This isn't sustainable in the long term though. I mean, cooling the earth's core, slowly.
Then again, the effects wouldn't be seen for a good few hundred years at least, so it can't do much harm.
[QUOTE=Moby-;34212915]Hmmm obsidian[/QUOTE]
That literally made me laugh, and laughing sent me into a coughing fit, because I'm terribly sick. Damn you. <3
I thought the title was going to read "Project to pour water into volcanoe to stop it from erupting"
Expected some troll science
that's actually a really smart idea. we don't really lose any water , and i somehow doubt it'll freeze the planet's core so this is almost a 100% renewable energy source
[QUOTE=Bawbag;34212979]This isn't sustainable in the long term though. I mean, cooling the earth's core, slowly.
Then again, the effects wouldn't be seen for a good few hundred years at least, so it can't do much harm.[/QUOTE]
I doubt there's going to be any effect. The core is continually heated because of the moon mainly. A bit of water is not going to change that. At best it makes a small part solid closer to the core.
[QUOTE=Bawbag;34212979]This isn't sustainable in the long term though. I mean, cooling the earth's core, slowly.
Then again, the effects wouldn't be seen for a good few hundred years at least, so it can't do much harm.[/QUOTE]
iirc the geothermal heat comes from radioactive decay and that that decay will last longer than the sun so I think we should be alright. In all honesty one volcano eruption probably "cools" the earth's core more than all of the geothermal projects. [Citation Needed]
[QUOTE=Raidyr;34212964]Flooded with [B]steam[/B].[/QUOTE]
No wallet will be safe
But this idea is quite clever, steam power is nothing new, but getting it this way is something I wouldn't think of doing.
[QUOTE=Moby-;34212915]Hmmm obsidian[/QUOTE]
They're trying to construct a gate to the nether
[QUOTE=Generic.Monk;34212912]you really have no idea how this works do you[/QUOTE]
Im pretty sure its a joke, you cant be that stupid. Right?
I thought a water pump that ran off a goblin blood reservoir was more efficient?
[editline]15th January 2012[/editline]
too much dwarf fortress.
[QUOTE=Bawbag;34212979]This isn't sustainable in the long term though. I mean, cooling the earth's core, slowly.
Then again, the effects wouldn't be seen for a good few hundred years at least, so it can't do much harm.[/QUOTE]
if by long term you literally mean hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of years, then yes, i guess it isn't sustainable in the long term
[QUOTE=aznz888;34213454]if by long term you literally mean hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of years, then yes, i guess it isn't sustainable in the long term[/QUOTE]
[quote]The half-life of uranium-238 is about 4.47 billion years and that of uranium-235 is 704 million years,[/quote]
sounds pretty sustainable to me
[QUOTE=Contag;34213472]sounds pretty sustainable to me[/QUOTE]
sorry i forgot to turn my sarcasm device on for this
What ever happened to that technology that could convert heat into electricity? Surely they could just use that.
I have a funny feeling that this will go down the same road and we'll never hear of it again.
[QUOTE=aznz888;34213483]sorry i forgot to turn my sarcasm device on for this[/QUOTE]
that's okay, Contag is still in alpha and is awaiting the insomnia bug fix
there's a 'drink alcohol' hotfix on the internet but that tends to just fuck shit up more
[editline]15th January 2012[/editline]
[QUOTE=Scotchair;34213484]What ever happened to that technology that could convert heat into electricity? Surely they could just use that.
I have a funny feeling that this will go down the same road and we'll never hear of it again.[/QUOTE]
that's called the steam engine
it is exactly what they are doing
[quote]The Rankine cycle is a cycle that converts heat into work. The heat is supplied externally to a closed loop, which usually uses water. [B]This cycle generates about 90% of all electric power used throughout the world[/B][/quote]
Unless you're talking about something else
[QUOTE=Bawbag;34212979]This isn't sustainable in the long term though. I mean, cooling the earth's core, slowly.
Then again, the effects wouldn't be seen for a good few hundred years at least, so it can't do much harm.[/QUOTE]
Over 70% of our planet is covered with water, and volcanoes don't have a problem with that one bit.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmMlspNoZMs[/media]
It was a material that could literally convert heat directly into electricity... there were no mechanics to it.
Oh, you're talking about a thermoelectric generator, which are supposed to be more expensive and less efficient than their rankine alternative
Won't it form a cap at one point though?
[QUOTE=Instant Mix;34213099]that's actually a really smart idea. we don't really lose any water , and[B] i somehow doubt it'll freeze the planet's core[/B] so this is almost a 100% renewable energy source[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Bawbag;34212979]This isn't sustainable in the long term though. I mean, cooling the earth's core, slowly.
Then again, the effects wouldn't be seen for a good few hundred years at least, so it can't do much harm.[/QUOTE]
Are you 8?
It's going to be very rainy in that area soon.
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