13 miles down and 1000 degrees! Hot enough for you?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 31 พ.ค. 2024
- There's enough energy just in the very thin crust of our planet to run human society for hundreds of thousands of years. Getting to it and bringing it to the surface is the challenge. Now a new team of engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs, who were clearly Star Wars fans as children, has developed an immensely powerful 'ray gun' that can vaporise rocks down to twenty kilometres. Terrifying or very exciting? Take your pick!
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Research Links
Eavor
www.eavor.com/
QUAISE Energy
www.quaise.energy/company
New Scientist article
www.newscientist.com/article/...
Other links
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www.usgs.gov/centers/gmeg/sci...
education.nationalgeographic....
altarockenergy.com/
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There is a guy named Matt that has over 1 million subscribers. How does this guy not have double that number is beyond me. Much more non biased informative relative content. Always love "Just have a think"!
AlgoDrithm? Or people just don't care about Life, the Universe, Everything...
For a long time I thought he was Matt speaking with an English accent
Being able to retrofit fossil fuel plants (namely coal-fired, which are rapidly becoming uneconomical to operate) is where this technology shines incredibly well. You're not only creating incentives for investment from the green energy sector but also from traditional energy companies looking to continue operation of existing assets. Quaise's timeline sounds aggressive but I don't see why it can't be achieved at this point considering they're combining two well known technologies and using experienced drilling labor. Really hoping to see these roll out in 5 years or hopefully sooner with increased investment.
This was my first reaction too. Retrofitting coal power plants doesn't need to be done a hundred at a time, but can be converted one and one, which makes things much easier. The geology below the plants must be favorable for boring, ideally with uninterrupted hard rock and no earthquakes, so it can't be done everywhere.
I left the oil industry earlier this year, but Quaise is a company we were looking at doing business with when I was there. The amount of interest in geothermal in the oil industry is massive. They won't be hurting for funding if they can prove the technology to some oilfield companies.
Coal fired power plants are currently the cheapest form of power....
@@andreasboe4509But this new type drill can melt through solid rock. That's what makes this feasible now.
Keep the Capitalist oil companys out. This energy must be nationalized as a public industry or we'll be right back where we started, with corrupt Oligarchs pursuing profit over people.
This makes far more sense than fusion. I just hope they make it happen quickly and find a way to scale up the process across the world.
More sense than fusion is a low bar, but yes, let's hope that it's as good as the advertising says.
Fusion’s Future is for Interstellar Propulsion. We can serve our “at home” needs with Solar, Wind, Geothermal. . . and Fission. And. . . a judicious use of oil to develop those sources.
Drilling begins in 2024, generators up and running in 2026, factory conversions in 2028. Boy, the fossil fuel stock will crash fast! What factory would choose ever more expensive gas and coal over major cost savings? The fossil fuel Oligarchs can't stop it this time.
This could have been done over 50 years ago.... its old news because energy would be cheap and decentralized. So not going to happen
@@arrell1xyz as many as they have dug, or found, till now
Brilliant! Thank you! (I was one of the folks who suggested putting these two companies together in the comments ages ago on another video.) Imagine the Eavor radiator design at depths of 10-12 km for a moment. That could, theoretically, produce enough energy to replace any hydrocarbon or coal power plant, and financially compete with every form of renewable as well as small modular reactors. For industrial countries, it's a no-brainer for the municipalities who largely finance this kind of infrastructure because it eliminates not only GHG emissions, but other toxic emissions such as mercury (which is measurably reducing worker productivity and increasing mental health problems in China and India right now). The finances are vastly better with these two companies, and military bases will likely be among the first to switch (this is a perfect solution for the problem NORAD is currently having with finding zero-emissions energy for radar bases in the Canadian North, for example).
Good that you brought this up. For all the sulking on behalf of the coal industry. They don’t understand that coal needed to go when it was clear it was pumping out sulphur, mercury, napthalene and radon. But also that it became uneconomical 30 years before renewables became politically popular. Since we’re already pouring tax dollars in to coal barons why don’t we do something useful with the plants instead.
I like your thinking! This would be a great solution for the radar bases, and for northern communities that currently have to import everything (including fuel) from thousands of kilometres away. If Yellowknife doesn't burn to the ground from the wildfires this year, it would be a good place to test a large scale implementation of the technology.
I've been to Shemya AFS in the Aleutians, and they have a steady supply of wind. The problem is that the wind is too strong, 50 knots is the norm, with some reaching 75-100 knots.
I like this. Gyrotrons are well developed - they are used to pump fusion reactors. Reusing existing thermal plant makes huge sense - a Rankine cycle plant doesn’t care where the heat comes from. There is an enormous cost saving in reusing that old plant. The existing power grid depends upon all those spinning synchronous machines. The geothermal heat was leaving to space anyway. Nice!
It's the near-ideal solution to use energy on route to its destination instead of generating more of it. Hydro power is based on the same idea. Re-routing and using the energy somewhere in the middle of its journey from source to destination. Destination always being heat in the atmosphere radiating to space.
If that gyrotron deep drill technique also works horizontally, it could replace explosives when the rock in the tunnel drill direction is too hard for the conventional drill, like with the japanese seikan tunnel between honshu and hokkaido that came in use 2016 for the shinkansen, where that might would have been useful.
If they chose the location well they could put vitrified nuclear waste 15 km down the borehole, and then cap the borehole Which would solve the problem of disposing of high-level nuclear waste. Which would allow existing nuclear power stations to run safely.@@Simon_Jakle__almost_real_name
@Simon_Jakle__almost_real_name no reason it shouldn't work horizontally. Elons boring company better get license fornthisnor.they are.out of business. Actually I guess it depends on costs. Explosives.are cheap
@@Hclann1 yes, but I think this will be most competitive for really deep holes - too deep for loading explosives and too hot for drilling mud lubricants. Then it looks cheaper….
Never underestimate the amount of energy our greedy little species can consume.
Very negative. The exploitation of energy, which is abundant by the way, has improved the everyday life of every human on the planet and will continue to do so. What we need to do is find lots more energy, but make sure it does not harm any other ecosystem.
bro thinks geothermal power is gonna steal all the heat from the earth’s core ☠️
I bet he thinks wind turbine are gonna use up all the wind too 😂
@@oberonpanopticon it may take hundreds of years but if you just look at human history we humans will scale anything up exponentially until it hits catastrophic levels. I know it sounds ridiculous right now but there are limits to everything and we humans don't seem to understand that.
@@aaronbono4688
1 - If we somehow survive long enough to get to a point where we need that much energy, we’ll presumably have gotten our act together.
2 - By the time we need an entire planet’s worth of energy and have the technology and infrastructure to harvest it, we’ll have multiple planets to choose from.
3 - Even if we survive long enough to need that much power and get the technology and infrastructure to extract it, it’d be far more logical (and likely practical) to build enormous solar collectors in space, or networks of countless fusion reactors.
@@oberonpanopticon possibly but humans have a track record of not doing the right thing until s*** hits the fan.
I plan on taking my farm off grid using geothermal energies and I've done this before at our chalet a rather large place totally off grid
Geothermal or ground source heat pumps…two different techs
Like many other geothermal energy technologies, this sounds like it would be pretty great in the instances where it works. Seems to me that the history of geothermal projects shows us problems arise when projects encounter the all-too-frequent surprises found in those murky depths. Things like toxic and/or corrosive chemicals getting picked up by the steam, or encountered a volume of molten rock during the drilling operation.
So a part of what needs to happen for these guys is just getting lucky in not encountering a surprise project buster; at least not early in the technology rollout.
Fingers crossed.
Exactly!... 20Km deep, on a commecial for profit making basis.. where it has never been achieved before, not even on an unlimited government funded experimetal basis (the Kola Superdeep borehole, Russia.. 12Km deep, they had to stop drilling when the drill heads started to melt.).. I foresee an early death of this idea, because of.. reasons.
A quick search showed one example of unexpected magma and that was drilling near a volcano in Iceland. I had to search to verify that such a phenomenon even existed.
If you get near molten rock, sounds like you struck paydirt. Tap that & have centuries of energy, closer to 1,000°C
@@MarcoNieropbut that's precisely their point, they want to get to those hot depths and the reason the super deep borehole stopped drilling was because the drill heads melted too quickly.
In this design they gave a non-contact method of getting to those depths, meaning the issues are less significant.
Noting that they use traditional drilling to get to 3km is probably because they can avoid the unexpected, and get to the edge of the upper mantle where the rock should be more consistent.
They might break through to voids or volcanic inclusions, but they can probably tell something about the rock ahead from the modulation of the maser.
I really hope someone has thought to test this maser at 500 degrees to make sure it still works. Can't have any solder joints or PCBs, that's for sure. But I think with ground penetrating radar, seismometers and other equipment they can get a pretty good idea of where the magma pockets are. This technology might not even be needed in volcanic areas, that's where traditional geothermal excels. It's the "dry" places with nothing but hard rock where this is needed.
I had heard about Quaise and their gyrotron drilling about a year ago. Thanks for the update and keep your eye on them.
Will do!
So if Dave could be CEO of a global enterprise, he could take these 2 companies, the Aggregate from Garbage from a week ago and a few others and have a Global Green Energy Not For Profit. Sounds like we citizens of the world need to step up and form a Massive Hedge fund and Empower Dave :)
Great Video
That is a great idea! We could call it just have a fund
Another great episode. Great graphics too. My view on this is that we need to look at novel technologies as lottery tickets. If we fund a hundred promising projects with a hundred million each it will be a total of ten billion for the lot. Most of them will probably fail miserably, but one or two are likely to generate enough money back to make it all go plus with interest and then some. We have wasted more than ten billion on the ITER project that we know isn't scalable. If we had spread those resources on projects like this science fiction boring technology instead, I'm sure we'd have seen much more interesting outcomes. More than that. The failed projects would have generated interesting patents other entrepreneurs could use to change the future for the better. It would also enable a new generation of engineers and scientists to learn new crafts.
Now THIS is something spot on for… "drill, baby, drill!"
I chuckled at your comment about MIT entrepreneurs. Very true.
Pipe dream, Indeed!
I wonder if as much money was spent on drilling holes as has been spent on fusion reactors, where would we be now?
Could you get any simpler than heat from the earth?
Sounds very similar to the EdenGeothermal Project at the Eden Project in the UK. How is that going BTW?
If Kenya can harness geothermal energy, anybody can!
With renewable energy there will always be the need for different types of energy to make the grid more resilient & climate-proof. Baseload energy is less of an issue nowadays, but always great to have as "security".
Since around 80% of people will live in cities by 2050 I'm interested in the types of energy generation can occur in / near cities to reduce need for complex transmission infrastructure. This pretty much means solar panels everywhere, but other renewable energy tech can be applied.
We also need to develop effective energy efficiency tech & processes / systems as the less we need, the less we need to generate, transmit, store & distribute - all this infrastructure requires materials awa regular maintenance & upgrades etc.
Tx for the update on this tech.
Absolutely a game changer...if it ever comes to be. These things always seem like they’re the greatest step forward, only to be left unconfirmed or underfunded. I’m really hoping this comes to fruition though, as it would immediately spell the end to fósil fuel dependency
Not really. Fossil fuels will still be necessary in a lot of applications. We may be able to significantly increase our use of electrical energy in heating and transport systems but farming mining, ocean shipping, air transport and other things won’t easily transform.
@@stanweaver6116 Unless energy was cheap enough to make synfuels.
What’s brilliant about Eavor is that the base of the well fans out into multiple wells and that structure makes the water in the fanned out wells flow at a lower rate and therefore the water absorbs more heat. The structure of fanned wells as opposed to a singular loop makes the system more efficient. Clever.
Fascinating and exciting to see how geothermal could transfer a lot of fossil fuel jobs - so important to bring everyone along this low carbon journey.
(But an awkward question for those just having a think... what would humanity do with 'inexhaustible' energy?!). Thanks. Really enjoying these videos.
The energy industry would find a means to continue to profit off of everyone regardless of the fact that the energy is essentially unlimited. So we'd probably continue as we are, getting squeezed broke to enhance shareholder value.
Kind of like Nestle pumping millions of gallons of water out of national parks, essentially for free, and still charging $2 a bottle for it. Then using those profits to buy municipal water systems and massively increasing prices to a captive citizenry.
It still will not matter. As we generate more thermal heat from our gadgets, driving, heating etc, sooner or later with population growth and more people coming out of energy poverty, the heat mostly stays within our atmosphere and slowly builds up over time. CO2 or no CO2 will not stop this build up.
The human race really at some point needs to reduce that population drastically or nothing will save it.
@@MasterBlaster3545 It will be a LONG time before waste heat is a real problem. By then we should have numerous way to cool the earth down. If we survive CO2.
@@MasterBlaster3545The Earth radiates heat out into space. CO2 is a problem because it is causing more heat from the Sun to stay in the atmosphere. Heat from the Sun is many orders of magnitude more than what we can get from inside the Earth.
@@belmiris1371 The waste heat will just radiate into space. It will never be a problem unless something gets insanely crazy.
Super excited about the future 💯
Having been 3,5 km down a gold mine near Carltonville in South I can assure you that despite the air-conditioning in the mine, the heat was debilitating!
As you propose, the earth's core is an excellent source of energy.
I do have concerns though!
Unused mines in Johannesburg area are now filling up with water and the fountains in the area are flowing again.
While that may sound idyllic, it's ancient water with shards of rock containing radioactive material.
The streams from the fountains now have no life in them. Hardy water grasses have died as have fish and other plants and animals.
These risks were not known when mining started 100 years ago.
What are the risks with geothermal energy?
This is supposed to be a closed loop system. The water shouldn't be able to reach the aquifers used for drinking and irrigation. What happens after these systems reach their end of life is probably something they will try and pawn off onto taxpayers.
As with all large scale technology we won't know until someone does it. And by that time there will be so much invested money and political capital that if it does "cause earthquakes" or something then it will be ignored, denied, deflected, and litigated for decades to make sure that the investors get their money back and the public can be left to pick up the clean-up cost.
@@alfredotto7525 can they be backfilled?
@@KP-sg9fm at that depth the water wouldn't generally be able to migrate upwards in rock strata except on faults and up the wells themselves. @davidblyth5495 s concerns are as a result of much shallower aquifer waters interacting with exposed mine workings. The water will eventually clear up as the minerals are oxidised and their sources depleted.
@@alfredotto7525indeed!
Human intervention can be catastrophic.
One of the outcomes of human actions, is "unexpected and undesired". In this case it only became obvious a century after the start of the activity.
I wonder whether there was any thought about this during this period and what their actions were.
The presenter of the talk on the mine water was a lecturer at the University of Johannesburg. He lived in Pretoria about 70 km away because he believed that the aquifers serving Johannesburg, were compromised and a risk for the residents.
Pretoria has separate aquifers and thus safe.
Lets do this thing
Great video Dave. I think you are onto something by suggesting these two promising companies put their heads together. The oil companies might like this too since they have the infrastructure for drilling they could make the gyrotron rigs. They probably would warm up to that. And since the geneators are already in place it seems logical to me. A very hope inspiring video for sure.
A few questions here: 1) how much energy is needed to vaporise a hole 13km deep by (say) 300 mm diameter; 2) what happens to the ash that results; 3) how do they keep their beam focussed for such a depth; 4) how do they keep their rig from melting from all the exhaust heat; and 5) as many people have asked: how do they stop the hole from closing up again.
I do (most sincerely) wish them good luck, if it works it will be great for base-load generation.
1) Quaise says the amount of energy required is a few MW for less than 100 days, so only a tiny fraction of the energy that would be produced by the well. 2) The volume of material removed from a 13km*300mm hole is 919 cubic meters. This is a cube ~10 meters on a side, so basically nothing. 3) The beam is focused with a waveguide, essentially a very long pipe. 4) The way they keep the hole from closing is probably the same as in conventional drilling, by placing a steel sleeve in the hole. At deeper depths, where they begin using the microwave, the rock is very stable and the interior surface of the hole melts and glassifies. If necessary, it could probably be sleeved.
It looks like they're dropping the tool down the hole, so the next question is how they're keeping the electronics running hotter than 200C or 300C
@@lomiificationthe gyrotron stays on the surface. The beam can be kept coherent for tens of kilometers with a waveguide.
@@incognitotorpedo42 The layers of rock deep under contain moisture, that will seep into the hole. That moisture/water reacts with Sulphur and phosphorus to create highly concentrated sulphuric acid and phosphoric acid. The "very long tube of waveguide" and the steel sleeves will be corroded in less than an hour. The materials used should be resistant to both high temperatures and corrosion.
It's not easy to dig deep holes because the variables that could go wrong are too many, and their consequences are massive and catastrophic. If it was easy, they would be digging these geothermal wells to 13 miles (20 km) already. But too many uncertainties exist. Russia dug 13 kilometers and their equipment kept getting corroded by the strong acids and bases down there. They abandoned the project.
A very interesting concept. I hope it comes to fruition.
I really hope it can be done!
One point you missed though was the Carbon Sink Equivalent. If you suck heat out of the ground and use it for energy you are in effect altering the energy balance of the Earth radiating to space as opposed to being heated by the sun ....... just a (happy) thought!
Now with my pessimist cap back firmly on, there are ........ difficulties. Glossed over in this presentation, but almost certainly big enough to block the rosy view of the future presented here.
1. Getting your hole(s) actually in the ground!
Even if you could get a beam of energy columated to fire 20KM downward the detrius would hardly just float to the surface even with a respectable jet of gas. It would be eather an ionic plasma or gasious "particles" ...... which would condense to any colder surface like the side of your hole blocking it up quickly. The deeper you go the worse the problem is! I am not certain of the pressures at 20KM down there but they are large. Very large. How would the sides of your bore hole withstand that pressure when rock is no longer solid?
2. Getting your superheated gas out when the plant is running.
You have a 20KM length of pipe for the heat to bleed out of, especially if you are only using the slow speed of thermal difference to act as a "pump". Unless you are going to line your borehole with a pretty good insulator And pump the solution at a rapid speed thermodynamics are against you!
The instant repurposing of trad plants is really the best feature of this. We just don't have enough time to do the whole wind/solar/battery farm swap-out. This and a super-aggressive CO2 removal plan is really our only hope at this time.
In other words considering thermal lag there is no hope. We can't do today what we should've done 20 years ago.
There is no realistic CO2 removal plan.
Yeah, but it is clear the new geothermal tech comes available in the 2030ies - not now? Wind, Solar, BAtteries are already abundand available. The good the new tech maybe, the late it comes.
idk how you come away from this with the perspective that a technology that is a decade away from production is somehow faster than the technologies that are already seeing mass adoption and are already cheaper than fossil fuels. wind and solar are doing great, sorry if they're not sexy enough for you.
@@WolfSeril107 We don't yet know what Quaise's geothermal will cost. If they can drill as fast as they've claimed, it might not be all that expensive, particularly if they just re-power an existing generator. Wind, Solar, and Batteries are great, and I'm sure we will build a lot of that, but I think there is a substantial niche for a clean, firm power generator with a small land footprint and negligible obstruction of scenic views.
Who knows indeed! I’m an optimist too, it would be amazing if geothermal could grow to become a third renewable pillar.
I'm glad that geothermal is finally getting the attention it deserves, and hope that the recent advances can finally unlock it's potential. Of the various "renewable" energy sources, geothermal seems like the only one that offers a realistic chance at being able to provide that precious baseload power that is needed to keep things stable. Now, fingers crossed that it can actually be implemented in the real world and that the economics of the operation don't end up killing it.
Fascinating. I've always wondered why geothermal didn't get as much attention as it deserves. Same for tidal. These resources are always on and available. A no brainer seems like the still active calderas of the world would require the least drilling depth. Yellowstone has so much embodied energy that it could single handedly provide all the 24x7 power peaks that wind and solar don't cover. I know. It's a national park. So go right outside the park boundaries and slant drill.
What I like about this tech is that it makes geothermal realistic in mountain regions like Denver or Boulder. I know the drilling works there but cannot reach deep enough on it's own cost effectively like lower altitudes above sea level. This tech would kind of level the playing field for all places.
I guess I jumped the gun since it depends upon the cost per unit of depth compared to regular drilling. But still is promising.
Wow! I really hope the companies choose to collaborate!
I find it curious as an orbital mechanics nerd that no one mentions those effects under our feet. For the same reasons i find the idea of space elevators ridiculous, the matter under our feet is still bound by these laws of physics at the atomic level. This would be generating enormous amounts of heat down there as the rock jostles for its position against the surrounding rock. Every portion of a drill bit, the deeper it goes is subject to different stresses than above and below. Every atom be it above or below the ground is bound to travel at a speed in relation to it's altitude or depth. But id love to hear your thoughts on this. Im happy to be wrong, but i don't think so.
Yea! Another SOLUTIONS episode. Love it!!!😊
Hi Dave. That sounds like our best way out, certainly. Safer and more feasible than nuclear fusion, for example. We can only hope for its success.
A funny detail is that guy's surname, Carlos Araque. Here in Brazil, "de araque" is slang for something fake, or without quality. May it be a mere coincidence...
THANK YOU, a hug and see you Sunday!
Interesting coincidence ( I hope?) ;-)
Dave, the planet's warm but my garden keeps getting frost on it. I just think it's not fair that all that heat is trapped down below. Bring it up!🔥😊
Exciting prospect. The idea that existing infrastructure can be repurposed is what makes it so very appealing. Oil drilling rigs and skilled personnel as well as steam turbines currently fired with fossil fuel all getting a second life. Not just efficient but also motivating for those involved in those current 'dirty' enterprises.
I regularly enjoy your content, thank you for investing all the effort it must take. Know that I would watch longer more detailed pieces.
THANKS for a HOPEFUL and positive video on an emerging technology. I'm pulling for both companies to succeed. Good things DO HAPPEN. Cheers!
Well done again. Yes, i think it makes so much sense and if they can truly find long-term capital then it will be a go.
I been waiting for you to do a video on this. Great video as always. I think this is a great idea and could use old coal sites. I hope we start moving forward with it fast!!
Is there a chance that the heat extracted by these wells could serve for évaporative desalination as well ? That would really pull everything together and solve a good portion of our problems
Great idea, actually. Energy and fresh water to boot!
Wouldn't low temperature geothermal do that trick?
There is a limit to the size of low-temperature geothermal@@peteglass3496
Excellent clip. I am in the mining game, and have been to a several of the worlds deepest and hottest underground operations(3000-4000m underground, wall rock temperatures of 80+C). We use untold amounts of electricity for cooling and ventilation systems in order to create an underground environment that people can work in. Even visited a gold mine in Indonesia that was close by a Volcano... we could boil eggs in some of the ground water that were intercepted with exploration holes.
Geothermal Power generation makes sense... re-purposing existing coal plants... also re-purposing oil/gas drilling systems. Keep these coming Dave!
Instead of drilling in greenfield sites (as indicated in your graphic), wouldn’t it help to significantly reduce cost and timelines if they drilled on or very close to the sites of existing coal fired power stations. The power stations could be repurposed, provide jobs for the existing workers and have immediate access to the power grid?
Umm, at 7:26 that’s exactly what Dave says the company plans to do.
You haven't watched all the video have you!
its a little early in their game to choose a site. they first have to get going on the system.
Great work!
We really need to utilize as much as geothermal heating and cooling as possible. It should be part of new building standards.
The heatwave just ended in Germany, but I couldn't sleep for 10 nights. The accumulated heat made my apartment a sauna with 27c at the coolest part. But, the tap water was ice-cold! The basement pipes had condensation on them! A simple and shallow geothermal cooling could have helped.
27c a sauna? that's a cool day in Australia.
@@JohnnyWednesday 27c, inside my room at "its coolest". I can't open up any window or door.
Do Australians sleep in their tub of sweat without any air circulation? It's nearly illegal to install ACs here. I don't think you're comparing the right conditions.
Very exciting
First good news since years. This really could change the future.
Heaps exciting! Thx for all your awesome videos 🙂 PS: That Death Star metaphor was sobering 🤨
It seems that geothermal may be the only energy source that has the potential to solve all the issues with wind, solar, nuclear and fossil fuels and still use existing infrastructure. That alone is reason enough for the government to do much, much more to aid / promote the development of this technology.
Been reading about geothermal as a potential saving grace since the 1970s. There's a certain irony in finding that a recent breakthrough owes as much to oops! as it does to plenty of long hard work. Has the military made any overtures regarding what looks like the futuristic heat ray of H.G. Wells's Martian invaders?
The new idea here is the Maser drill. The geothermal extraction is how I thought it was always meant to work…you pump water down and steam comes back up. What I didn’t know was some geothermal proponents/companies intend to just extract already super heated deep water aquifers….With consequent risk of upsetting the strength and integrity of deep strata…that’s a risk.
Thanks for the video, interesting as usual. You present many brilliant ideas and companies and it seems to me that you are keeping track of their progress. It could be awesome if you can visualise the progress of the companies you present so that we can see together their progress (e.g. esch quarter/semester/year). I also think that it would be entertaining
Thank you again for your excellent science and sustainability communication
Sounds very promising and exciting.
Thanks, Dave. A lot of “ifs” in your presentation.. . but it seems to me that there are a “lot” of solutions to our energy needs, if only (there’s that word again) if only the entrenched energy companies can “look beyond the next quarter”.
Interesting concept look forward to the updates.
You've done a video before on this technology. Good to see actual progress on one of these techs and updates on them.
When you dig a hole, water will percolate from neighboring rocks into the hole. The water will mix with minerals like Sulphur and phosphorus to create sulfuric and phosphoric acids (liquids and vapors). These acids will corrode any casings used to protect the wells from collapse, or any pipes used to carry steam.
Also, water doesn't necessarily have to mix with aquifers to cause problems, but also oxygen introduced by the hole in such depths will react with the minerals (calcium, sulphur, phosphorus, iron etc) and create new compounds that expand in volume causing tremors and quakes. These expansion quakes can block the hole or crack the pipes/wells carrying water/steam. Just like how freezing water expands and then bursts pipes; that's exactly how the formation of new chemical compounds will expand and cause quakes that burst these wells.
Then the contaminated water will percolate into the aquifers. At such depths, the high pressure and high temperatures make these chemical reactions rapid and dangerous. Water from cracked wells will also react chemically with minerals and cause formation of new compounds (acids and oxides) and cause either corrosion or expansion and even more earthquakes. In the last decade, quakes and tremors greater than magnitude 3.5 have already been recorded in more than 10 geothermal sites around the globe. It's not easy to dig deep holes; ask the Russians and South Koreans about their experiences.
I can hear the "No Volcano In My Back Garden!" protests.
Never mind that lava requires a much higher temperature.
Unless you end up in a pocket of lead, at 3 times the price of oil, so the protests go "Please Choose My Garden"! 😄
I have no doubt this drilling technology could do the job, no doubt also with many quirks to solve along the way to this depth. It's more the other things around that I am concerned with, like the junctions between the funnel-like pipes and the way the hot water is getting back up, especially in the first 3 kilometers which could be clay or sand or underground water, the end temperature, etc.
Quite a lot of challenges in difficult conditions to solve before this tech makes it from lab to industrial standards, so yes, long term investment and commitment is critical. Each challenge solved is a step added to the success of this operation.
Incidentally, because of the almost horizontal pipes, it means that the drill itself makes a small portion of the whole vertically-projected space needed, so I would like to know how many such drills can you fit over say a continuous 10,000 km² square so the water coming from the pipes can still reach 500°C from the surrounding rock heat, what kind of energy do you get in total, how many humans can be powered by this energy, so what density of population can it serve, or more interestingly, can you power a network of 50°C central heating pipes in winter and still get some electricity from water turbines, again for what density of population, assuming other renewable sources of electricity are also used to different levels, such as 50% geothermal, 50% other renewables in winter, or whatever would match a population density that gets 100% of its electricity in summer, since it does not need central heating during this season.
I expect The Boring Company to take notice of this technology when they are facing hard rock.
I also wonder if it could be used for other tasks, like drilling water wells even in soft ground. Maybe not as a way to dig the well, but pre-drill a central pilot hole to see what kind of pressure you get as you drill down, to confirm the kinds of layers you can expect, and many possible uses other than water wells.
Thanks for the great video
Many thanks - as always another interesting video!
Glad you enjoyed it
Makes sense to me to devote more effort into pursuing this kind of high tech geothermal instead of fusion in the short term. Seems like it has the potential to be a viable source of clean, abundant energy in a reasonable period of time, Possibly enough to make the development of fusion less of an immediate concern. Fusion seems to be a long term project to ever be able to viably produce abundant energy at reasonable cost. We may not figure that out for another 23-30+ years. Geothermal would also greatly reduce the need for large banks of battery's to stabilize the grid. Thanks for the video.
I agree. I'd be willing to bet that fusion will not produce *economically competitive* electricity in this century.
Another great and informative video. I particularly enjoy your typically spot on and humorous turn of phrase. Please keep on keepin’ on.
Yes Dave, you are naturally funny. its a pleasure to listen to you talk
Excellent video
i definitely hope you keep tabs on these two technologies and make a video on them in later days. too many times, have i watched similar videos, just for the newfound potential technological breakthrough to end up going nowhere. either way, i fully root for geothermal, as i believe it can be the leading energy provider due to the lack of intermittency, as long as we're actually able to harness it.
I remain doubtful until I see the concept operating in the next couple of years. Creating those deep boreholes will be expensive and risky. Vaporising rock will need a lot of energy, and the ash produced has several km to be pushed back up to the surface without clogging. I would bet money that ash clogging is going to frustrate matters. But let's see how it works out.
Another question is what enthalpy (the heat content due to both temperature and pressure) and chemistry the heated working fluid (presumably water) has when it returns to the surface and delivered to a turbine.
It's all very well creating steam at 100degC at the bottom of that borehole, but it needs to travel a couple of km with a vertical height in a gravitational field to reach the turbine. There will be ever-present heat losses due to contact with the borehole sides and heat conduction, and the enthalpy of the working fluid will drop as it depressurises rising up that borehole - that's basic thermodynamics.
Finally, those modern steam turbines run using demineralised water. They are not reliable if the working fluid has lots of impurities. Heating up water in rocks will add lots of impurities - you can bet on that.
Great work as always. It would be equally as great if you have a look at SeaChange Technologies out of UCLA and their CO2 sequestration pilot program that just got underway. They've secured funding from the U.S. Dept. of Energy, and what they're up to seems like the best hope I've seen at realistically capturing carbon at scale. Not via air capture, but using the oceans.
Already talked about it here th-cam.com/video/kzMWIrh6bL4/w-d-xo.html
I'll check it out
Pulling CO2 directly out of ocean water seems like an excellent idea, if companies can get it to work. Fingers crossed!
I would like to see countries building millions of homes using bamboo, hemp, and wood as it would remove vast amounts of carbon from our atmosphere locking up carbon for hundreds of years mostly in hempcrete walls. Financial incentives should be offered to use these building materials especially in earthquake zones like Turkiye.
@@higreentjVery interesting, could Dave look into this as well?
U are an ass saver Dave...Just as I was about to deliver Paper in Geothermal energy in Portugal, this will make a fine a add to the paper as future prospects and technologies EGT.
Happy to help Max :-)
Wow - when I realized you were taking about geothermal with a 13km borehole, my immediate reaction was “yeah, right”. But when I heard about the super-powered Maser, I got excited!
Of course, it’s not likely quite as easy as it sounds; won’t there be an issue with the Maser energy being absorbed by the hot gas and ash flowing back up out of the borehole? Or is there some sort of a long waveguide that’d carry the maser energy down to the bottom of the borehole, along with the flushing gas? (Maybe it was there, I confess to listening to this in the background while doing other things.)
This strikes me as deserving a lot of investment, given that it could repurpose any existing fossil fuel plant, since it’s not dependent on having geothermal features close to the surface.
And it’s *baseline* power! The whole solar/renewables push is pure fantasy; I don’t see energy storage sufficient to hold up the grid for days of low sun or wind in any conceivable future, with any technology currently being discussed.
Thank you, as always. Possibilities are endless. The continuation to a future is in the hands of active minds and those such as you who collect information and make it available for even the simplest as I. To have a think, aligns to have and make dreams reality.
Definitely hope Quaise works out in practice. It sounds a bit like a pipe-less dream, though. If it does work it be great if they collaborated with Eavor, or a similar enterprise.
Getting rid of pipe housing would be pretty crazy
Brilliant idea, hope it works out
Beautiful
That sounds very promising.
Extremely challenging, but huge payoff if successful. I'm curious about LCOE, but this would be operating as a firming option, competing with other generating and storage not wind and solar, so a higher cost might be acceptble.
This tech is a winner!
If this all works out then it is actually more exciting than fusion. The biggest issue is the complication and expense of drilling deep enough. So if these costs can be brought down then it bypasses the need for solar, wind and fusion, while making traditional power sources cheaply converted to clean power.
Perhaps more important is that it would make the hydrogen economy feasible. Hydrogen is just too inefficient. With carbon sources it compounds carbon issues, and with intermittent renewables it compounds how much needs to be deployed to be viable. Batteries are just better for both. But if we get dirt cheap "base load" generation with nuclear, fusion, or this kind of geothermal then efficiency is much less of a consideration. If there is sufficient excess generation then less efficient hydrogen production makes more sense than more resource intensive battery production.
"Gyrotron" sounds really cool!
It's worth mentioning a couple of bonuses from this tech, if it works and is cheaper than current encased drilling - if the rock turns to glass to seal in the fluid, you dont have to worry about cases breaking as much, and drilling would be safer for workers, dunno if the glass would be able to hold back 300+ psi methane or 800+ psi oil (undersea ocean oil is routinely 2000+ psi and 150C+). The laser tech itself, I'm sure, would be useful for machining, and potentially for scientific research.
As far as reclaiming heat and cooling the planet, I'd reckon that conventional cooling would be more energy intensive than geothermal cooling (no compressors needed, only pumps), and dumping the waste heat into 55F soil near the surface is relevatively doable and would be more than adequate for district cooling.
Huge fan of this tech. Glad to see you discussing it more. Cant wait to see where it goes.
Thank you for another wonderful video! I think geothermal energy in general is a great potential source of carbon free power, and this QUAISE startup seems to have some really interesting new technology. On a pure 15 year old boy level, using a gyrotron to power a MASER beam drill that bites deep into the Earth sounds massively cool. On a more adult level, it really does seem like an innovative solution to the problem of drilling past the point where drill bits tend to melt and progress with conventional techniques becomes increasingly difficult and very expensive. Maybe QUAISE really can drill extremely deep holes for relatively cheap prices.
If so, I wonder if the same technology could be adapted for digging large holes relatively close to the surface, like subway tunnels. Probably not, since it sounds like it's not cheaper than conventional drilling in general. It's just cheaper than conventional drilling at extreme depths.
I really like your idea of using QUAISE's technology to dig the holes for Eavor's Everloop system. Maybe some innovative billionaire will bring the two together. Or maybe your video will give the companies an idea or two...
Thank you for spreading information about technologies that bring hope for the future~ You help lift my melancholy in so many ways when the weight of the tragedy of climate change starts to drag me down.
great update Dave! Geothermal energy is a great step forward, and I think tech like this would allow people that already service our grid to do so temporarily while other tech gets fleshed out.
Dave, thank you for being an optimist. I hope you are enjoying your Sunday.
Sheila Mink in New Mexico
Same to you!
Its becoming increasingly clear to me that the rush to cleaner energy solutions is causing (like so many other issues) a polarisation that is likely to hinder significant progress as politicians game the dynamic and stoke the differences. The pairing of thermal generation with the use of existing plant and infrastructure is therefore a very helpful move to integrating the divergent camps while introducing a meaningful contribution to cleaner energy. I do get a little nervous about the creation of extremely powerful technologies that while designed for entirely benign reasons are inevitably fodder for those who might want to gain military advantage. T'was ever thus!
The potential is obviously massive and probably could change history, if it can happen soon enough to avert disastrous climate change. Fingers crossed on that one as arguably climate change is already rather disastrous for millions already.
Looks like it might come on line [if your quoted report is accurate in reality, rather than an optimistic projection] just within the time to my three score and ten years.
Best wishes from George
Would have been pertinent to have the cost and effectiveness of Iceland’s current geothermal production. Maybe they have the answer, copy their success in New Zealand and other places with naturally occurring geothermal locations.
It amazes me the amount of extra energy expended by haughty metric types when they're compelled to make a show of adding imperial units rather than quietly just adding them in with the metric.
Hello, as a PhD researcher within the geothermal area I recommend looking at some sources other than the companies that are making this claims, specifically with closed loop systems in which some companies, not naming names have made some quite inaccurate and unrealistic claims. For a good assessment of Eavor Loop I would check the paper at the 2022 Stanford geothermal workshop by koenraad beckers
In general, good idea. If you have to go 20km down then I'm a little worried this is one more Lab only thing. The bit breaking the rock isn't the only problem going down that far. Course over coming the other problems may be why they need long term investment. So like so many things on this channel. I wish them luck but I'll not hole my breath.
my question folows. whats the hurry going twenty Kilometers . whats wrong with a good old fashion 12 km. it sounds to me like they are trying to get a hype going around them. I say, lets see some results.. lets see a system working
@@simonrobson9579My guess would be that if you stop at 12km then you don't need their fancy pants drilling method so they'd be out of a job.
@@lucidmoses This is not about going deep into the crust.. its about obtaining funds to keep trying. If the system works they can go deep... But first they need money to build it.
About time we did this, it is so obvious and it will NEVER be cheaper to do it. Costs always go up!
I cant wait to see their full scale demonstration rig in action! Hope they can achieve their 2024 goal! If this works I see this as one of the most promising methods of clean energy production next to nuclear. Fingers crossed
Woohoo! A nice little chunk of hope.
The insane amount of energy down there makes it worth going after but as you say if it is cracked then it has to be made available to the biggest emitters or its of no use. That does not mean that you have to give them your tech but it also does not mean you hold them over a financial blow torch. it would be so important for developing countries to have access to emissions free power.
One thing I have never seen addressed in discussions about geothermal energy: can a geothermal plant survive an earthquake? I'm not talking about the surface structures, I'm talking about the huge holes that go down miles.
I have been enthusiastic about this technique for 40 years. It's about time a couple of companies are trying. I wish them great success. Maybe I will get to see a working system before I die. I'm 67 and in good health. It would definitely be a game changer.
🤞Very interesting - thanks
Thanks for keeping up on a topic near and dear to me. It would be brilliant to see these 2 companies wok together. I unfortunately don't have the faith in people that you apparently do.
Sounds brilliant! Can't wait ;-)