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/sci/ - Science & Math

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1601410 No.1601410 [Reply] [Original]

How come it's super costly to bore down a few miles to hot rocks for geothermal while it's not a problem for many on land or deep water oil wells?

>> No.1601420

The reason is that you're stuck with a plant at that location. It's easy to transport oil without much loss in efficiency, but you'll lose heat if you try to move those rocks. There's specific places where geothermal energy is feasible, too. You can't just build a plant anywhere.

>> No.1601424

>>1601420
Not necessarily true, which is what I found out from an anon last night.

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2008/12/geothermic-energy-could-power-all-natio
ns-54267

>> No.1601431

You need to dig a LOT lower to get to a point where there's enough useful heat. There's other technical issues as well. The steam that comes up usually corrodes anything made of metal because of mineral properties, etc.

>> No.1601459

>>1601431
than make it out of thermal plastic