this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2025
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If you have a heat differential, you can generate power. Heat pump to boil water and drive a turbine.
What is this ~~nonsense~~ about a "fusion" reactor under our feet?!? There is no fusion going on in our core.
Edit: striked out inflammatory phrasing.
Don't know what to tell you except that it's obvious you didn't read the article nor have you looked into what it's talking about. They need to go deep enough to get supercritical steam.
And yes I meant fission, not fusion. But go off on the rest I guess
There is no fission inside the earth either, except some exceptionally rare locations. ~~Have you actually looked into what your talking about?~~ I did read the article, but the first half was fluff about them digging a hole and not having enough concrete. The rest is press releases for drilling startups.
Super critical steam may be what they are trying to get, but it is definitely not a requirement for generating energy.
Edit: needlessly inflammatory comment striked out.
There is A LOT of radioactive matter below the earth's surface ... constantly generating heat.
"About 50% of the Earth's internal heat originates from radioactive decay. Four radioactive isotopes are responsible for the majority of radiogenic heat because of their enrichment relative to other radioactive isotopes: uranium-238 (238U), uranium-235 (235U), thorium-232 (232Th), and potassium-40 (40K)." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_internal_heat_budget
Fission is a form of decay, but its relatively rare compared to the other more typical modes of devay.
Spontaneous fission is relatively rare, because it is usuallly restricted to superheavy elements, which are fairly rare and short lived.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_fission
It was a needlessly pedantic nitpick though.
Lol I don't believe you read the article. Don't lie now when anyone can scroll up and see that you wrote:
They aren't talking about drilling for heatpumps. Not knowing what they're aiming for is a result of not having read the article.
Current drilling technology can't get us deep enough for the energy we need to use geothermal as a power source. The company in the article is trying a very new method using gyrotrons to vaporize the rock after traditional drilling caps hits a financial barrier.
Real Engineering just put out a video on it if you'd rather watch than read.
Your absolutely right, I didn't read the full article. It was clearly a puff piece. There is no new science here.
Heat pump doesn't just refer to the home heating and cooling systems, it can also be refer to any process that can boost the temperature up to the usable temperature.
Current geothermal systems dont require super critical steam right out of the ground, they boost the temp from relatively low temps (<180c) up to usable temperature. This technology has existed for decades, and can be rolled out right now, no moon shots required. Oil companies have dug down 12km, which is enough to get to 180 across a huge portion of the US.
https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/56b679/us_temperatures_at_the_depth_of_10_km_62_mi/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_cycle
I'm sorry about the fusion comment, which was rude, but I haven't been deliberately rude to you, I'd appreciate the same.
I think we were both being rude but I'm willing to drop it
The goal of this new project from Quaise (what the article refers to) is digging deeper and cheaper. We are physically able to get to the depths needed but it's prohibitively expensive. If the technology works (it does) and is reliable (remains to be seen outside of a lab), it's a HUGE deal because now suddenly geothermal is cost-effective.
Also worth noting that something cool about their approach is the tunnel creates it's own pipe
You're right, i was being rude as well. Apologies for the rudeness.
If they can be cheaper, this may have an impact, but they dont seem to have any numbers to back up their cheapness claims? They seem to be spruiking their speed instead, but thats only one part of the cost.
And their drill tip, while fast, is a relatively uncommon piece of kit, and requires significant amount of power to run (1MW to hit 70m/s), so its probably not going to be usable in less developed areas, and scaling their processes will be interesting.
I'll look forward to them publishing their costs when they complete their fullsize trials.