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Iceland To Drill Hole Into Volcano

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the tapping-the-earth-for-energy dept.

G3ckoG33k writes "BBC reports that Iceland will drill a hole into a volcano so it can tap heat from it, which eventually is hoped to produce commercially available energy. From the article: "Twenty years ago, geologist Gudmundur Omar Friedleifsson had a surprise when he lowered a thermometer down a borehole. 'We melted the thermometer,' he recalls. 'It was set for 380C; but it just melted.'". Excuse me, Gudmundur, but how could that ever have been a 'surprise'..."

3 of 275 comments (clear)

  1. Geothermal power is really important by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I took a field trip once to the local hydroelectric dam and learned all about how hydro is safe and clean and provides a large recreational grounds after the water has accumulated behind the dam. It was pretty cool.

    Now if they can build a geothermal plant that actually improves the landscape, I think they are on to something. Free energy ceases to be free when you ruin the surrounding area with ugly power plants.

    1. Re:Geothermal power is really important by C0vardeAn0nim0 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      tell this to the thousands of brasilian farmers who were displaced by huge hydroelectric projects during the military government between '64-'85 who hadn't been setled in new plots to this day, tell this to other thousands who leave nerby the lakes who have to deal with clouds of mosquitos that reproduce in the shores and can cover the sun when then fly seeking for blood to feed their eggs, tell this to people who live downstream the dams and see the rivers that suply them reduced to little more than creeks in times of drought...

      i've seen all of these here in brasil, where 90% of the electricity comes from hydroelectrics.

      hydropower also has it's environmental price tag, don't let the marketing departament of a utility fool you.

      --
      What ? Me, worry ?
  2. Rock is a good insulator by gregor-e · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Trouble with extracting geothermal energy is that rock is a pretty good insulator. Once you get the first enthusiastic bout of steam and have cooled a few feet of rock around your pipe, the heat leaches back in very slowly. Unless they can create and sustain a lava tube that is constantly eroding in the presence of circulating magma, (or use a heat exchanger in constantly circulating hot water), this is unlikely to be successful.