5 ms·

I have been following this company and several others (Quaise, Fervo, Sage) in the EGS Space for a little bit now, and I think we are on the cusp of a huge brea

I have been following this company and several others (Quaise, Fervo, Sage) in the EGS Space for a little bit now, and I think we are on the cusp of a huge breakthrough in baseload renewable energy. This site in Utah is one of the largest test cases that expands the use of EGS to a much broader area than just a few geothermal hot spots. Prices are dropping dramatically, and these things are moving quickly beyond the R&D phase. There is a world where every major data center across the Western US has its own base load power supply that has essentially no pollution, no footprint, no hazardous waste, and no need for complicated permitting. EGS truly could be a game changer in the world's push to decarbonize. I'm super excited.

skipants 1y ago
> no pollution, no footprint, no hazardous waste As a layman, I assume waste heat would still be an issue? Even so I would also assume it's still way less damaging to the environment than everything else.
- aDyslecticCrow 1y ago
  I'm not quite sure about that. The earths core should generate the same amount of heat (through gravitational friction and radioactive decay) regardless if we tap it or not. If the heat didn't escape somehow already it would slowly get hotter. Whaste heat from nuclear or fusion does contribute to earth heating, though insignificant compared to any source pf c02. But my intuition tells me geothermal wouldn't... Mm. Actually, water vapor is a potent greenhouse gas; and that's how to covert heat to energy. So mabie it would indeed be significant.
  - metadat 1y ago
    TFA states the Cape Station plant (created and operated by a company called Fervo) are closed systems - they capture the emissions so no water is wasted or spewed into the environment as steam. They deserve big props for this innovation and effort, as historically Utah has frequently been been treated as an industrial dumping grounds. The long-term ecological damage and visual eyesores due to strip mining, chemical dumping and other pollution is significant.
    - skipants 1y ago
      Well, that's just neat!
- bell-cot 1y ago
  Oh, yes. Especially if you don't have a generous supply of fresh water, to use in your cooling towers. For example: https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/02/f7/geothermal_water_use.pdf https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/02/f7/geotherma...
- ACCount37 1y ago
  Waste heat is always "an issue", but rarely an issue worth caring much about. Global warming isn't happening due to industrial waste heat - it's happening due to CO2 emissions being a massive leverage for messing with how the planet absorbs and emits heat.
  - thayne 1y ago
    Although, the more greenhouse gases there are, the worse waste heat is.
rplnt 1y ago
Complicated permitting as compared to what? I would assume it's much more complicated than solar, and less complicated than... is there anything else available at small scale?
- foobarian 1y ago
  coal or gas i would guess
  - loeg 1y ago
    Nah. Gas isn't comparable and no one in the US is building new coal generation.
    - actionfromafar 1y ago
      Aren’t we getting ”clean beautiful coal”?
      - lostlogin 1y ago
        The downvotes are presumable because you have misquoted him. He said ‘BEAUTIFUL, CLEAN COAL’ https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114180199351008084 https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/1141801993510...
- loeg 1y ago
  Nuclear is the comparable power source -- both have high upfront costs, long build times, low operating costs and clean generation. If deep geothermal can come in cheaper than nuclear, there's basically no reason to do nuclear.
  - lazide 1y ago
    Shallower geothermal has a history of causing damaging earthquakes in some geologies.
amarcheschi 1y ago
At least in Tuscany - where there is a cluster of geothermal power plants creating 1/3 of the region electricity (it should reach 40% in a few years) - they had to invent special filters to lower the emission of mercury and hydrogen sulfide https://www.enelgreenpower.com/stories/articles/2024/10/geothermal-energy-tuscany-sustainable-development https://www.enelgreenpower.com/stories/articles/2024/10/geot... I don't know if it's "no footprint" at all. For what I know, which is not much, but just what a person living here might know, there's a footprint that can be somehow managed. But I'm not an engineer
- sarchertech 1y ago
  The plants mentioned in the article are closed systems. They aren’t releasing steam into the atmosphere like the plants you’re referencing.
- lostlogin 1y ago
  I wish New Zealand did more of this. We have a whole fleet of geothermal plants (15ish), making about 20% of our power. However the largest plant is only 160MW. The impact in comparison to our other renewables seems fairly minimal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_power_in_New_Zealand https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_power_in_New_Zealan...
aaron695 1y ago
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skipants 1y ago

> no pollution, no footprint, no hazardous waste As a layman, I assume waste heat would still be an issue? Even so I would also assume it's still way less damaging to the environment than everything else.

aDyslecticCrow 1y ago
I'm not quite sure about that. The earths core should generate the same amount of heat (through gravitational friction and radioactive decay) regardless if we tap it or not. If the heat didn't escape somehow already it would slowly get hotter. Whaste heat from nuclear or fusion does contribute to earth heating, though insignificant compared to any source pf c02. But my intuition tells me geothermal wouldn't... Mm. Actually, water vapor is a potent greenhouse gas; and that's how to covert heat to energy. So mabie it would indeed be significant.
- metadat 1y ago
  TFA states the Cape Station plant (created and operated by a company called Fervo) are closed systems - they capture the emissions so no water is wasted or spewed into the environment as steam. They deserve big props for this innovation and effort, as historically Utah has frequently been been treated as an industrial dumping grounds. The long-term ecological damage and visual eyesores due to strip mining, chemical dumping and other pollution is significant.
  - skipants 1y ago
    Well, that's just neat!
bell-cot 1y ago
Oh, yes. Especially if you don't have a generous supply of fresh water, to use in your cooling towers. For example: https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/02/f7/geothermal_water_use.pdf https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/02/f7/geotherma...
ACCount37 1y ago
Waste heat is always "an issue", but rarely an issue worth caring much about. Global warming isn't happening due to industrial waste heat - it's happening due to CO2 emissions being a massive leverage for messing with how the planet absorbs and emits heat.
- thayne 1y ago
  Although, the more greenhouse gases there are, the worse waste heat is.

rplnt 1y ago

Complicated permitting as compared to what? I would assume it's much more complicated than solar, and less complicated than... is there anything else available at small scale?

foobarian 1y ago
coal or gas i would guess
- loeg 1y ago
  Nah. Gas isn't comparable and no one in the US is building new coal generation.
  - actionfromafar 1y ago
    Aren’t we getting ”clean beautiful coal”?
    - lostlogin 1y ago
      The downvotes are presumable because you have misquoted him. He said ‘BEAUTIFUL, CLEAN COAL’ https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114180199351008084 https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/1141801993510...
loeg 1y ago
Nuclear is the comparable power source -- both have high upfront costs, long build times, low operating costs and clean generation. If deep geothermal can come in cheaper than nuclear, there's basically no reason to do nuclear.
- lazide 1y ago
  Shallower geothermal has a history of causing damaging earthquakes in some geologies.

amarcheschi 1y ago

At least in Tuscany - where there is a cluster of geothermal power plants creating 1/3 of the region electricity (it should reach 40% in a few years) - they had to invent special filters to lower the emission of mercury and hydrogen sulfide https://www.enelgreenpower.com/stories/articles/2024/10/geothermal-energy-tuscany-sustainable-development https://www.enelgreenpower.com/stories/articles/2024/10/geot... I don't know if it's "no footprint" at all. For what I know, which is not much, but just what a person living here might know, there's a footprint that can be somehow managed. But I'm not an engineer

sarchertech 1y ago
The plants mentioned in the article are closed systems. They aren’t releasing steam into the atmosphere like the plants you’re referencing.
lostlogin 1y ago
I wish New Zealand did more of this. We have a whole fleet of geothermal plants (15ish), making about 20% of our power. However the largest plant is only 160MW. The impact in comparison to our other renewables seems fairly minimal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_power_in_New_Zealand https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_power_in_New_Zealan...

aaron695 1y ago

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