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Geothermal Power Is a Climate Moon Shot Beneath Our Feet (www.newyorker.com)

submitted 3 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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"This road is long, and much of the map remains blank. The biggest problem is drilling miles through hot rock, safely. If scientists can do that, however, next-generation geothermal power could supply clean energy for eons."

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 weeks ago (24 children)

Article is paywalled, but geothermal power solutions already exist. NZ gets 25% of its power from geothermal. Its not a science problem, its an engineering one, and mostly solved as well. And fortunately, the oil companies have all the expertise to do it.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago (16 children)

It's not mostly solved because a huge portion of the world doesn't live above shallow geothermal

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago (13 children)

I can get geothermal right where I live, and its definitely not a shallow geothermal area. Its expensive, because digging the pipes is hard, but its definitely solved.

You dont have to go that deep to get to warmer than surface air, which is all thats needed to run a heatpump. I dont know what that group is aiming at, but its definitely not a moonshot.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Stupid question. Can you use a heat pump for cooling?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

Yup, thats exactly how your fridge/freezer works. Low pressure refridgerant inside the fridge space, absorbs heat, is then compressed outside the fridge, raising its temperature which is then allowed to radiate out.