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Harry Reid Pushes Nevada As "Saudi Arabia of Geothermal Energy"
An anonymous reader writes "Of all the 'mainstream' forms of renewable energy, it seems that geothermal power is always left in the shadows compared to solar and wind power. However, that looks set to change with news that the US Department of Energy will fund geothermal projects in northwestern Nevada and southeast Oregon. With funds from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, the DOE has stated a 'conditional commitment' to provide a partial guarantee for a rumored $98.5 million loan to the Nevada Geothermal Power Company (NGP). According to US Senator Harry Reid, 'Northern Nevada is the Saudi Arabia of geothermal energy.'"
Here in New Zealand (only the most thermally active place in the world with people living on it) we use quite a bit of geo-thermal energy, but apparently we are only utilising the tip of the iceberg, although there are plans for more plants to be built... one of the great things about geothermal energy is "waste gold" that builds up in the pipes ;) ... unfortunately along with sulphur and all sorts of less desirable bits and pieces...
"This is my Sig. there are many like it but this one is mine."
Here are a few more sources for info. regarding the contract...posted for no other reason than my own annoyance with Inhabitat =P
DOE Press Release with Media Contact Number
Sustainable Business Blog, apparently the initial plant will produce 49.5 MW in capacity
Home website of NGP, the contract winner
Write up from EON, with quite a bit more info, including contact info. for various parties involved.
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Once we suck all the heat out of the Earth's core, the mantle will solidify: fusing all the tectonic plates and ending earthquakes and volcanoes once and for all.
Win/win.
Assuming that were possible (don't worry, it's not), you end up losing the dynamo effect of a liquid mantle, the Earth's magnetic field vanishes, and the solar wind blows the atmosphere off into space. Yeah, really win.
Nerd card revoked.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
it takes time for the surrounding rock to heat up the cool spot you've created. This places a natural limit on the rate you can extract heat energy from a geothermal well
While I'm no expert in the field I daresay that there's a "natural limit" to anything, including the energy produced from an oil burning plant. Surely the output of the plant is an engineering issue, and it's simply a matter of design.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
I don't know about how much Reid is in danger. His opponent is on record for a variety of...odd positions: eliminating the US Department of Education, pulling out of the United Nations, getting rid of Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare; wants to protect our purity of essence and precious bodily fluids by opposing fluoridation of water, similarly wants to get rid of alcohol, thinks global warming is a hoax and is for drilling for oil here, there, everywhere. Is also the nutter who thinks overthrowing the duly elected government of the United States via a violent revolution is a good idea. All Reid has to do is frame the campaign that way and it's pull the lever for the nutter or pull the lever for Reid. He'll beat her by 10 points. That's how bad of a candidate Reid is--she should manage the 25% dead-enders at best. Still bringing in more federal dollars isn't a bad idea for Reid, pork or legitimate (but well-timed).
Yes, Angle is not the candidate the Republican Party wanted. But the latest poll I know of shows Reid trailing.
She is not crazy at all and if you think huffington post is a reliable source of information on conservative candidates then you are crazy.
How about having her describe her opinions instead instead: http://www.sharronangle.com/issues/
Or how about the opinion of the people of Nevada: Angle: 50% Reid: 39%
Negative moral value of force outweighs the positive value of good intentions.
Some bacteria can survive quite high levels of radiation, in fact, thrive even.
Ah, the Harry Reid's "fluoride" strategy. Sure, that will work. I don't know or care about fluoridation in Washoe County but the only information you have is a quote from Reid's team that has been passed around to the media and I don't tend to trust that very much.
As for the social security, it's an unsustainable system that will have to be reformed soon anyway. She is just being honest about it. And no she does not want to abolish it over night, she wants to phase it out for people entering the workforce now (anybody who paid into the system will still receive the benefits) and replaced with an actual interest bearing retirement savings account which will provide MUCH higher income in retirement for the same payment (12.5% of income) than social security does.
Negative moral value of force outweighs the positive value of good intentions.
Some bacteria can survive quite high levels of radiation, in fact, thrive even.
Oh really?
Not at the doses I am thinking about...
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Current generation (ie. already built) breeders are also utter crap in terms of energy production and only really useful for making material for nuclear weapons if you don't already have a huge stockpile of that material or other ways to make it. Iran and North Korea might contemplate them but nobody else would bother - other nations with nuclear ambitions are happy enough with CANDU since they won't need a lot of bombs in a hurry.
Upcoming technologies such as accelerated thorium on the other hand are reported in the press as breeders but are completely different to dead ends like superphoenix (the French extended a middle digit in the direction of the ban as they can be depended on to do).
Why should I want more democracy? There's nothing particularly sacred about democracy. That's the point of the Senate, the founders recognized that mobs can get carried away by stupid ideas, and that's why the Senate was intended to act as a buffer to the House of Representatives. Now, we effectively have two Houses of Representatives, and what's the point of that?
Further, consider the priorities of an elected official. He gets into office by whoring for votes. His priority is the next election, not how his actions will affect the country decades into the future.
The point is, elected officials and unelected officials have different incentives. That's why the government was designed to have components of both.
I actually think it was a mistake to allow direct election of the president. It causes people to concentrate on the election of one politician on whom they have little influence, rather than their local representatives where the views of a relatively few people actually can have significant influence.
American Third Position
Finally, a real choice!
Ya really.
Deinococcus radioduransshrugs of acute doses of 10000 Gy and thrives under a constant 60 Gy/h. That's way beyond what your puny machine will offer...
Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.
The problem with geothermal is that after you extract the heat from the rocks, it takes time for the surrounding rock to heat up the cool spot you've created.
The problem with geothermal power is cleaning up the toxic waste.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: geothermal power is a total failure on all levels. I live within shootin' distance of The Geysers, the most geothermally active region known to exist on Earth. We have a geothermal plant here which is continually over budget and under-producing. The turbine blades are built by Halliburton, which is a disaster in itself. After they have been in service for a certain period of time, they must be cleaned of buildup of toxics like Arsenic which are released from the vent along with the steam. Most of the hot springs in town have measurable Arsenic content. This is simply pressure-washed off, and the slurry stored in open pits for evaporation. After this process has been repeated a sufficient number of times the pit is covered over and the walls raised. They used to put it in drums and bury them in a field on one of the roads out of town but the drums started leaking and cows were being born with two heads and that sort of thing, so they "cleaned it up". Oh, sorry, THEY didn't clean it up, we did. It was a superfund site; we still have one of those operating in town, for similar compounds. The "solution" was to dig it all up, put in a rubber liner, and bury it again.
There are other types of geothermal power options, like heat pipes, but all you have to know about them is that they are terribly inefficient (not that any geothermal plant in the world is producing any amazing amount of power) and they don't last, just like the turbine blades in our example. You're always digging things up and replacing them, which is terribly impractical. The simple truth is that solar panels could repay the energy cost of production in under seven years back in the 1970s and if all the money spent on geothermal plants was spent on even PV solar plants we would have produced a lot more power for the same amount of money.
Anyone promoting Geothermal power for low environmental impact is either ignorant or trolling.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
That, and considering how the vast majority of states are financially in the red these days
A small minority of states are in the red. Most states are fiscally responsible and live within their means. Some states even have constitutional requirements to maintain balanced budgets.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
I'm pretty sure she never made such a stupidly worded statement. Why do you have to make up a straw man? She's simply stated she's against it, and there's scientific evidence that ingesting fluoride is bad for one's overall health. Is it really that difficult for people to brush their teeth in the 21st century USA?
[citation needed] BTW, so did Thomas Jefferson.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
Poisoning the well fallacy, AC. Just because you don't like the organization (or man) doesn't mean they're invalid. If Rasmussen polls were garbage, they wouldn't be used much because, frankly, some people depend on the numbers.
[citation needed]
Or, they're a legitimate organization with accurate numbers. If they were Republican-controlled, wouldn't they want to give her a slightly bigger lead?
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
Wow, she wanted to honor the county's right to self-determination. THAT'S REALLY CRAZY!
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
It doesn't mean the link is bad. You just need to check references.
in fact, Angle said she believed most fluoride used in water supplies could contain "lead, arsenic, [or] mercury." All of which is crazy talk.
She supports making alcohol consumoption illegal.
She thinks it's her job to 'protect' people. which from my reading means 'make them behave the way my belief dictates.:
“I would tell you that I have the same feelings about legalizing marijuana, not medical marijuana, but just legalizing marijuana,” Angle offered. “I feel the same about legalizing alcohol.
“The effect on society is so great that I’m just not a real proponent of legalizing any drug or encouraging any drug abuse,” she continued. “I’m elected by the people to protect, and I think that law should protect.”
http://rmcpac.com/viewpoints/new-angle-giving-harry-reid-boot-sharon-angle
So she doesn't want people to be able to choose to drink alcohol, or ANY drug.She want's her faith determine other peoples behavior. How Anti American is that?
Yeah, the Huffpo is questionable in many areas, and down write stupid in science. But follow the links, and rad up. That SPECIFIC article is an accurate one.
She thinks BP
s disaster is a good reason to deregulate the oil industry. Crazy, ignorant and stupid.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on