I’ve been thinking that for a while. Issue is that it’s risky, if you fuck up there’s a pretty high chance that there are going to be a lot of houses with cracks in their walls (assuming you’re doing it in a relatively densely populated area that doesn’t normally see earthquakes).
Any powerplant will usually done in a pretty isolated area for safety reason, so i’d assume the chance of it happen is very, very slim. If location isn’t permitted it’s probably shouldn’t be build, especially for the type that need to dig very deep to access the heat, so solar panel on roof is probably the best way for any power generation that is placed close or in the populated area.
Here in Germany, that hasn’t been true at all so far. For starters, there aren’t any “pretty isolated areas” in the first place, since the entire country is pretty densely settled compared to e.g. Iceland. There are still some ongoing projects, though, IIRC they are usually being done for district heating, which has to be near populated areas per definition. I think these types of projects aren’t as likely to create earthquakes as the ones for electricity in Iceland, though.
But that’s usually not true. You can either just not do geothermal in areas that aren’t prone to natural earthquakes, force every homeowner to make their home earthquake-proof (which is extremely expensive, probably a lot more than just building batteries for solar+wind) or suck it up when they get damaged, or the owners of the geothermal plant have to pay for any damages (unlikey).
It only feels odd because that is genuinely an incredibly effective means of generation, and we found it very early on because steam is so fundamental. Nothing wrong with sticking to the best method ever discovered.
Why is that a problem, exactly?
Because it’s not as cool as directly harvest the energy itself like in scifi.
geothermal is boiling water too, and it’s pretty neat
I’ve been thinking that for a while. Issue is that it’s risky, if you fuck up there’s a pretty high chance that there are going to be a lot of houses with cracks in their walls (assuming you’re doing it in a relatively densely populated area that doesn’t normally see earthquakes).
You mean, like fracking (for oil power) minus the poisoning groundwater part?
Any powerplant will usually done in a pretty isolated area for safety reason, so i’d assume the chance of it happen is very, very slim. If location isn’t permitted it’s probably shouldn’t be build, especially for the type that need to dig very deep to access the heat, so solar panel on roof is probably the best way for any power generation that is placed close or in the populated area.
Here in Germany, that hasn’t been true at all so far. For starters, there aren’t any “pretty isolated areas” in the first place, since the entire country is pretty densely settled compared to e.g. Iceland. There are still some ongoing projects, though, IIRC they are usually being done for district heating, which has to be near populated areas per definition. I think these types of projects aren’t as likely to create earthquakes as the ones for electricity in Iceland, though.
dropping the latter assumption?
What do you mean?
Assume it’s an area with frequent earthquakes
But that’s usually not true. You can either just not do geothermal in areas that aren’t prone to natural earthquakes, force every homeowner to make their home earthquake-proof (which is extremely expensive, probably a lot more than just building batteries for solar+wind) or suck it up when they get damaged, or the owners of the geothermal plant have to pay for any damages (unlikey).
Honey, go toss another plutonium pellet in the house slot, please.
Let me guess, you need to boil some water?
It’s not really a problem, it’s just funny that so many forms of power generation we have are just boiling water to make steam that spins turbines.
Eh, we’re still moving electrons around in wires like Faraday did in the 1800s!
It only feels odd because that is genuinely an incredibly effective means of generation, and we found it very early on because steam is so fundamental. Nothing wrong with sticking to the best method ever discovered.