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If you want to boil an egg, you can heat the water on a stove and put the egg in the hot water. Or you can take the egg to a hot spring and put the egg in the hot spring.  

Not everybody has a hot spring like we once did but there are lots of them around.  Or you can drill for hot water like we and all our neighbors do for cold water.  

Some people think drilling is bad.  Maybe they have bad experiences with dentists.

It is the same if you want to generate electricity.  You can burn some fuel, preferably fossil fuels in the good ol' U.S. of A., to heat the boiler.  Or you can skip the boiler and use hot water provided by Mother Earth.  It doesn't have to be boiling BTW.

Where can you get this hot water from Mother Earth?

You can get it from a magic pond in Vermont where ice never forms, you can get it from an oil well in Florida, you can get it from lots of places where we don't bother looking because it isn't cool.

Some folks think that you can only get geothermal power from the Pacific "Ring of Fire."  Americans aren't too good on geography.  

Here is the Ring of Fire:

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Vermont isn't in that Ring of Fire.  Neither is Florida.  Take my word for it.  Iceland isn't in that Ring of Fire either.  Some people say Iceland is unique.  It is unique only in the way all places are unique.  Kenya isn't in that Ring of Fire.  Kenya is developing geothermal power aggressively.  A son of a Kenyan, who will soon be president of the U.S., hasn't thought much on it because Americans don't know geothermal and many prefer dirty fossil fuels anyway.  

Back to Vermont:

Meddie Perry, a senior hydrogeologist with VHB-Pioneer, has been working with the village of Bellows Falls since this summer to explore the potential of tapping into what he says is a source of geothermal energy that is beneath the bedrock of the village.

Perry's firm was paid $5,000 to find the best spots for potential wells and determine whether it makes sense to invest more money in the plan.

Perry told the trustees Tuesday that while he could not guarantee that there is enough geothermal power to run a municipal utility, he said he was certain that there was enough there to heat and cool individual buildings.

"There is an awful lot of heat energy," Perry said. "I am confident a heat source is there."

Kinda figures that though there are a new breed of physicists around here who proclaim heat isn't energy anyway. Be fascinating to learn about this new physics.  

There are still mountains in West Virginia and Kentucky that haven't been topped, fish and streams that haven't yet been killed, coal that hasn't been all dug up yet, a planet that hasn't been killed.  Why gamble when you can be certain?

Best,  Terry

Originally posted to terryhallinan on Fri Nov 28, 2008 at 07:26 AM PST.

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Comment Preferences

7 comments | Permalink

  •  Interesting. (1+ / 0-)
    Recommended by:
    luckylizard

    I had geothermal heating/cooling for out house, though. It never worked, not a bit. It was a very expensive scam.

    When we got rid of it (to put in a heat pump, which worked nicely), they referred to our geothermal system as a $10,000 boat anchor.

    I hope commercial geothermal works better. I'll never trust it, though.

    Republicans are red, Democrats are blue, If you don't vote like Jesus, No Rapture for you!

    by SciMathGuy on Fri Nov 28, 2008 at 08:25:22 AM PST

    •  Without A Doubt, There Are Many Incompetents (2+ / 0-)
      Recommended by:
      luckylizard, SciMathGuy

      and frauds in the construction business.

      Sorry to hear about your experience.

      Direct use of geothermal heat has been around for a very long time.  

      What do Mexican Indians, the Queen of Sheba, Icelandic Viking religious rebels, and a French village with warm, toasty houses have in common? All are stories from a heated earth.

      See here.

      Power generation is only a little over a century old.

      Best,  Terry

      by terryhallinan on Fri Nov 28, 2008 at 08:36:41 AM PST

      [ Parent ]

  •  There is a lot of potential in (0+ / 0-)

    the Dakotas.  I think I recall it's mostly in the area of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in N. Dakota...   Or the Badlands in S. Dak?   It was a long time ago and I can't call it up exactly right now.

    -7.62, -7.28 "We told the truth. We obeyed the law. We kept the peace." - Walter Mondale

    by luckylizard on Fri Nov 28, 2008 at 10:12:26 AM PST

    •  I can only tell you that the Badlands (1+ / 0-)
      Recommended by:
      luckylizard

      are a mostly undiscovered scenic treasure.

      I have seen many discounting the Dakotas as a source of geothermal power but others dispute it.

      Best,  Terry

      by terryhallinan on Fri Nov 28, 2008 at 10:24:33 AM PST

      [ Parent ]

      •  I heard this a LONG time ago. (0+ / 0-)

        I'm thinking it was in HS (60s) or college (70s).  Perhaps there has been more study since then.  I did go looking at the USGS and was surprised/disappointed to find that their site basically points to the Ring of Fire for this resource.  I didn't see anything in the rest of the country.  I know there are hot springs in lots of places: Yellowstone, Arkansas, Georgia, etc.  

        It might not be possible to extract hot water from the springs but is it possible to run some kind of lines through them to heat a liquid to use elsewhere?  I'm not very good at physical/earth science.

        -7.62, -7.28 "We told the truth. We obeyed the law. We kept the peace." - Walter Mondale

        by luckylizard on Fri Nov 28, 2008 at 10:36:40 AM PST

        [ Parent ]

        •  I have only the vaguest recall of seeing (1+ / 0-)
          Recommended by:
          luckylizard

          something about geothermal power generation in the Dakotas sometime ago.

          This is one discussion of South Dakota's geothermal potential:

          Note:

          South Dakota possesses significant low-temperature (<150°C) geothermal resources that have been put to beneficial use for over 100 years. The state's numerous direct-use applications include therapeutic spas and recreational swimming facilities. Energy from hydrothermal resources is also being harnessed for purposes such as district heating in two communities, an aquaculture business, and space heating. South Dakota's geothermal resources, concentrated primarily in the western and south-central portions of the state, are not considered to be adequate for electric power generation. </p>

          In fact temperatures far lower than 100°C are more than adequate for power generation but it won't stop the stories for now.  

          Raser Industries development of a low temperature field in Utah estimated to be able to produce a maximum of 10MW of power has now jumped to a likelihood of 200MW with further exploration.  Way these things usually go.

          Best,  Terry

          by terryhallinan on Fri Nov 28, 2008 at 11:33:52 AM PST

          [ Parent ]

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