The answer to fossil fuels?

Sorry for the tease, but this thread contains no fact and it’s totally conjecture.

Ok, I am clearly not a scientist or even knowledgeable for that matter (quiet some of you). But I had a thought and wanted to know if anybody has studied this before. I think I know the answer, but I wanted to put it before the “committee” anyways.

Here goes:

The Earths core is molten rock (duh). The surface of course is solid and cool (again, duh). It stands to reason that someplace between the surface and the molten core there is very very hot rock, but still solid. How far down? I don’t know, but its most certainly there.

Other than engineering, what’s keeping us from running rows and rows of pipes down there to super heat steam to power turbines? Ultra clean and literally endless supply of energy. As long as the Earth is “alive” and has water (i.e. forever) Humans would have a free energy source.

Invent super batteries that are strong enough to power our homes and cars and wowee the Earth is a far superior place. Or ultra conductive cables for minimal loss of energy sending this out to our cities and towns.

I can see hundreds of stations like this below the plains of the Midwest or the deserts of the world piping this pure, ultra safe, and endless energy to “battery stations” near towns and cities to store and distribute this power.

The world’s dependence on oil would be nearly eradicated. You would see machinery predominantly using fossil fuels change to batteries because the power would be so plentiful and cheap. Some things would remain dependant on oil based fuels like aircraft and such of course, but not enough to make oil an expensive commodity anymore.

Imagine how politics would change!!!

The best thing about this is that its simple in theory, no new technology to make power in this fashion, actually it’s quite old. The obvious challenge would be engineering it though. How many miles down is rock hot enough to super heat steam?

Anyways, the answer is right there in front of us, the question is how to get at it…

You mean like geothermal power?



It's only viable where the Earth's crust is not so thick or is close to a hot-spot in the mantle. Places like Iceland for example.

More links:

www.worldbank.org...

www.powerscorecard.org...

Exactly, but I am really talking about getting thousands of miles of pipes all the way down to rock thats capable of super heating steam instantly causing amazing pressures. I would think science would be working overtime trying to get down there to do this. Dont look for idea places, MAKE them.

It seems they've got something close to your idea going on in Canada. Close, but not exactly. Still interesting, though.

BOREHOLE THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM



Located in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada’s newest university is currently undergoing one of the largest expansion projects in the province. Amidst the hub of all the construction activities lies the infrastructure for one of the largest geothermal well fields in North America. The geothermal well field is the central component in the borehole thermal energy storage system. Drilling was completed in November 2003 and involved three rigs, each drilling one hole per day over a span of over 100 days.

Three hundred and eighty-four holes, each 213 metres (700 feet) deep, will provide the basis for a highly efficient and environmentally friendly heating and cooling system, capable of regulating eight of the university's new buildings.

A glycol solution, encased in polyethylene tubing, circulates through an interconnected, underground network. During the winter, fluid circulating through tubing extended into the wells collects heat from the earth and carries it into the buildings. In summer, the system will reverse to pull heat from the building and place it in the ground.

As for your idea, perhaps currently there are engineering difficulties to drilling that very deep into the ground. Or maybe it's not being looked into because the oil-barons that control the world are blocking research into this field?

[edit on 22-2-2006 by Beachcoma]

Originally posted by skippytjc
Exactly, but I am really talking about getting thousands of miles of pipes all the way down to rock thats capable of super heating steam instantly causing amazing pressures. I would think science would be working overtime trying to get down there to do this. Dont look for idea places, MAKE them.

By the time you've drilled deep enough to do such a thing, confining pressures makes your piping a "pipe-dream".

Take for example the mines in Africa (some of them are almost 12,000 feet deep).

These mines are not so hot as to "super heat water" and thus generate electricity...they are too hot to work-in and thus need to be cooled...but again, not so hot.

At the bottom of these mines, the rock explodes from isostatic pressure and the walls move in at rates that are almost visible.

Thus constant maintanance is required to keep the mine operative.

Deep bore-drilling requires a lot of work and is not very easy...now to make a space for water to pass through is an engineering complication that isn't worth it...yet.

California has several geothermal power plants

Geothermal Power Plants