Digging 10 miles underground could yield enough geothermal energy to power Earth

[2strokeNorthstar]

Don't do it! It's just outer space on the other side

That's not until you get through the hollow part.

 

[2strokeNorthstar]

After drilling down 7.5 miles, why not let nukes do the rest? That would be some serious "fracking" but it would make the hole deeper.

I used to listen to the old Art Bell radio show and this recording was featured one night. It was reportedly taken from the bottom of the Russian deep drill hole , it was around two in the morning and although I don’t believe there is a Hell , I will admit , at two in the AM with the lights off , it was disturbing and I never forgot it.

Haha. I used to work overnight on call maintenance. I usually listened to coast to coast but responding to a dark building with no one around I'll admit sometimes I had to change the station

 

[Warstud]

 

[Motu]

New Zealand has had geothermal power sites since the '50's, and 15 are currently operating. Mostly small capacity, the biggest is 161 MW, and they produce 15% or so of our power. Not much digging required...

 

[Revving2Redline]

So, we can get rid of the wind turbines that aren't doing anything and get real energy with this geothermal power?? I'm all in. Same for natural gas too.

 

[4WD]

You are massively underestimating how much this would cost. I suspect that we are talking tens of billions of dollars.
Now, to put this into perspective, do you know how much it costs to build one nuclear power plant now days? A two-reactor nuclear power plant being built in Georgia (the ONLY one currently being built in the US) is now projected to cost its owners more than $30 billion. The South Texas Nuclear Project was approved to move forward on constructing two additional reactors, but when they started looking at the numbers they decided to scrap the plan indefinitely.
Having said all of that, and looking closely at all of the alternatives, IMO geothermal energy production is worthy of serious consideration and research.

I’m speaking of the test well that will end in failure … no more funding … nothing more …

BTW: I’m 30 miles from STP and posted what you did years ago …

 

[4WD]

I'm always fascinated by these deep wells. The Deepwater Horizon rig drilled an epic exploratory well in the Tiber oil field some time before the Macando site fiery disaster.

The well in the Tiber field had a true vertical depth of 35,050 ft (10,683 m) and a measured depth of 35,055 ft (10,685 m), below 4,132 ft (1,259 m) of water. The well was the deepest oil well in the world, and more than 5,000 feet (1,500 m) farther below the seabed than the rig's official drilling specification stated on the company's fleet list.

Casing loads generally limit what can be done vertically due to the need to set them often - based on the fracture gradients of the rock. Some extended reach wells have gone past 50,000 feet “long” since at very high angles the pipe is supported - in ERD - torque becomes the limit quite often. BP gets around some casing load limits with “liners” hanging them in the previous casing. However, at some point a high burst strength long string must be landed/cemented at the high pressure wellhead …
This was the phase that DWH lost control of …

 

[Bjornviken]

So, we can get rid of the wind turbines that aren't doing anything and get real energy with this geothermal power?? I'm all in. Same for natural gas too.

Nearly all Icelandic homes are heated with renewable energy, with 90% of homes being via geothermal energy, so why not...i dont think its impossible, only to the elite that controls the energy thinks its impossible

 

[Snagglefoot]

Nearly all Icelandic homes are heated with renewable energy, with 90% of homes being via geothermal energy, so why not...i dont think its impossible, only to the elite that controls the energy thinks its impossible

Iceland has steam being released at surface. So does the Yellowstone Park. Yellowstone is too far removed from large urban areas to be of significant value.

 

[Snagglefoot]

Geothermal heat extraction has been going on in the USA for many years.