Is it possible to dig a hole from sea level ground and construct a Geothermal plant to produce electricity?

4 Responses to Is it possible to dig a hole from sea level ground and construct a Geothermal plant to produce electricity?

1. Oilfield says:

   July 20, 2012 at 9:23 am

   Yes it is possible, but it depends on where you are whether it would be economically viable. There is something called the geothermal gradient. This basically means how much the temperature of the ground changes by depth. It’s usually around 1.5 deg F per 100′ in most areas (rough average), with this kind of gradient, to have a working geothermal well, you would have to drill a little better then 10,000′ to get your water to boiling point. If an area is geologically active, like Iceland, Yellowstone, Hawaii etc, then the geothermal gradient is much larger, ie, the ground heats up at a much shallower depth. These areas can have usable geothermal wells at depths of less then 1500′, and then it becomes marketable.
2. universitymongoose says:

   July 20, 2012 at 8:33 am

   Contrary to what many think, you do not need geysers to get geothermal energy. You can drop pipes down deep, where the actual pressure of weight of the earth heats the pipes and returns steam and energy. This technique is called dry bed geothermal. How practical it may be a for a given location depends entirely on how easy to dig the locale is.

   However there are many more practical and efficient energy sources. Ocean Thermal Conversion, pioneered by TRW in the 70′s, then for no published reason, discontinued, could reasonably supply huge amounts of energy to all our coastal cities.

   There is a real question of political will in all of this. Eventually we will have to use these new techniques, to make up for the declining oil supplies of the world.

   As far as I can see, the sooner the better. But people have to demand it, because businesses appear to be ready to take the real initiative.
3. deep says:

   July 20, 2012 at 8:27 am

   yes it is possible
4. intel_knight says:

   July 20, 2012 at 7:53 am

   several miles — to expensive to be practical. They do have geotermal power plants in Iceland, but they use existing geysers