The power requirements of our future are staggering. We will not keep up with the old ways.
With that said, I am pro-coal, pro-oil, pro-NG, etc. In fact I wish we would stop fucking around with solar and wind and get serious about NG and Geothermal.
Simplifying, that is a semi-underground greenhouse (the Native American word for it is "Wallipini") which faces the sun, uses thermal mass, etc., and duct work underground below the frost line, with a push fan and a pull fan. Like the push and pull fans on a tower PC.
Not to make it sound like I am diminishing this man's work. Quite the contrary, I am super impressed with him and what he has achieved here.
Also, if you are digging a well, you can drop a loop down there.
Once you go below the frost line, the earth is around 68F year round.
I saw this little gem the other day and enjoyed how low tech it was. This is in AZ (Tucson, I believe) so this would not work where one has a real Winter. But actually I'll wager that it could work in a place with a real Winter with some changes (deeper hole for the container, insulated pipe, etc.).
Dump water in a hole, let the earth heat it into steam, run that steam through a turbine and you'll have power.
Alternatively, use that heat directly to heat your house. Great and very reliable technology, just expensive to build but cost practically nothing to operate as you need to drill very deep to access the heat.
Thorium is the way to go. But that is the easy part. The hard part is the transmission lines. They are already maxed out. They have to be careful because they get hot and droop. When that happens strands can break, reducing capacity.
Fair point. I was focused on production in writing. Transmission and storage remain big issues. However those issues apply even more to wind and often to solar, I hope you will agree.
Diffuse energy has very little value, is expensive and has a lot of drawbacks. The more concentrated the energy source, the more added value. That is one reason why gasoline outshines things like hydrogen and batteries.
Yes I am not sure anything has more "K" at the point of need than gasoline/diesel/oil. And distribution is not super-fun, but we know how to do it at this point. And storage is fairly straightforward, up to a point.
Which is why gasoline/diesel/oil are still doing well.
EDIT: My comment was not well worded. What I meant was that the K you get from these fuels vs. the price you pay + the cost/complexity of the distribution/storage you need to employ to get it ... is still the best or nearly the best math. NG would be better, if we had more filling stations for it, more vehicles that could accept it, etc.
We need to revisit nuclear power in a big way.
Gen IV Reactors, and perhaps especially Thorium reactors.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_IV_reactor
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pebble-bed_reactor
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium-based_nuclear_power
The power requirements of our future are staggering. We will not keep up with the old ways.
With that said, I am pro-coal, pro-oil, pro-NG, etc. In fact I wish we would stop fucking around with solar and wind and get serious about NG and Geothermal.
I love the idea of geo-thermal. I haven't studied it enough to know any drawbacks or ramifications though.
Btw, how about growing citrus in Nebraska? With no HVAC?
Yup.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD_3_gsgsnk
Simplifying, that is a semi-underground greenhouse (the Native American word for it is "Wallipini") which faces the sun, uses thermal mass, etc., and duct work underground below the frost line, with a push fan and a pull fan. Like the push and pull fans on a tower PC.
Not to make it sound like I am diminishing this man's work. Quite the contrary, I am super impressed with him and what he has achieved here.
You can effect a form of geothermal. I wouldn't say it's easy to do, but it's fairly understandable how to do it.
It ain't gonna cover your electric bill, but it can cover all or most of your heating/cooling bill.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc_BbbMi1cg
Also, if you are digging a well, you can drop a loop down there.
Once you go below the frost line, the earth is around 68F year round.
I saw this little gem the other day and enjoyed how low tech it was. This is in AZ (Tucson, I believe) so this would not work where one has a real Winter. But actually I'll wager that it could work in a place with a real Winter with some changes (deeper hole for the container, insulated pipe, etc.).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb5aHQO47kM
Would love to make one of those for a shed as an experiment.
That's cool! The hot springs up here has a geothermal greenhouse. I think it's impressive when people figure out how to "nature better".. lol
Dump water in a hole, let the earth heat it into steam, run that steam through a turbine and you'll have power.
Alternatively, use that heat directly to heat your house. Great and very reliable technology, just expensive to build but cost practically nothing to operate as you need to drill very deep to access the heat.
Thorium is the way to go. But that is the easy part. The hard part is the transmission lines. They are already maxed out. They have to be careful because they get hot and droop. When that happens strands can break, reducing capacity.
Fair point. I was focused on production in writing. Transmission and storage remain big issues. However those issues apply even more to wind and often to solar, I hope you will agree.
When do we get our Mr. Fusions?
Diffuse energy has very little value, is expensive and has a lot of drawbacks. The more concentrated the energy source, the more added value. That is one reason why gasoline outshines things like hydrogen and batteries.
Yes I am not sure anything has more "K" at the point of need than gasoline/diesel/oil. And distribution is not super-fun, but we know how to do it at this point. And storage is fairly straightforward, up to a point.
Which is why gasoline/diesel/oil are still doing well.
EDIT: My comment was not well worded. What I meant was that the K you get from these fuels vs. the price you pay + the cost/complexity of the distribution/storage you need to employ to get it ... is still the best or nearly the best math. NG would be better, if we had more filling stations for it, more vehicles that could accept it, etc.