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Gwen Holdmann, vice president of new development at the Alaskan hot springs resort where the technology is being tested, says they spent $2.2 million on the UTRC geothermal power plant, and that it should pay for itself in five years. "It could even be a quicker payback if the cost of fuel keeps rising," she suggests. Before the power plant was installed, the resort was burning $1,000 worth of diesel fuel per day to generate electricity, she says. The plant eliminates those costs and the harmful emissions from diesel generators.
Right now, geothermal power plants are located mainly in the western United States, where high-temperature steam or hot water appears naturally at the surface. Drilling wells to reach high-temperature resources deep underground can cost millions of dollars, yet still be cost-effective because they're efficient for power generation, Richards says. So far, however, it hasn't been economical to use lower-temperature geothermal resources for power.
But existing oil and gas wells, where electricity generated from waste hot water could run the oil pumps, would be the ideal location for the UTRC power modules, Richards says. "They're already drilling wells, the wells are already being used, and they're producing something that is a secondary source of energy."
Carbon dioxide captured from power plants could make geothermal energy more practical.
By replacing the refridgerent with a higher temp gas, can a small scale unit for homes be developed so the unit gets mounted in an attic space where the heat builds up enough to get the widget running or does something like this require a heat source with a lot of density that continually drives the compressor unit?
What about using focused sunlight to heat the system?
great idea! put a radiator on the roof of your house working in reverse and capture all that solar heat!
ORMAT (www.ormat.com) in Israel and the US has been commercialy providing this technology for over 40 years for both high and low temepraure geothermal and waste heat sources. They have over 600 MW of systems in long-tem operation.
Thermo-siphons (heat-pipes without wicks since the liquid water will fall back down the tube) can move heat much more efficiently from the ground to the surface. The pressure inside is adjusted so that water vaporizes at a little below the temperature of the heat-source and condenses, releasing heat to the refrigerant-based system. This way there is no cost for pumping water.
We have many areas in India where the temp. is <100 C r n padhi
till date India doesnot gererate any power from geothermal resource.Neither the govt. nor any private party is interested nor any foreign investor in spite great potential.Why?
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MarkShapiro
13 Comments
Another part of the solution
Add this great idea to the thousands of other forms of renewable energy sources, efficiency, and conservation. Well thought out, good cost-controls, marketed right at the sweet spot with the biggest returns.
A clean energy regime just got closer.
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Hardheadjarhead
18 Comments
Re: Another part of the solution
Am I to understand "dry" wells that are used up could use this technology to produce electricity? How far down does one have to go for it to be hot (165 degrees) for this to work?
Would it be practical to dig down for that purpose?
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