WEBVTT - Geothermal Energy: Earth's Gift to Mankind 0:00:01.160 --> 0:00:04.360 Welcome to you stuff you should Know from house stuff 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:12.719 Works dot com. Hey you, and welcome to the podcast. 0:00:12.760 --> 0:00:16.360 I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles to be, Chuck Bryant, Jerry 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:22.560 and me Josh Clark, which makes this who know the podcast? 0:00:22.880 --> 0:00:27.800 That's right. I thought that I wrote this article, and 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:31.880 it turns out it didn't list not your pseudonym, Stephanie Watson. No, 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:34.760 I thought I updated. I did something way back in 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:39.680 the day on our website about geothermal energy. It might 0:00:39.720 --> 0:00:41.519 have just been an update that I didn't end up 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:45.400 getting a byeline for. It was probably how to survive 0:00:46.200 --> 0:00:49.320 shipwreck due to geo thermal energy or something like that. Right, 0:00:49.479 --> 0:00:52.360 Maybe did you do a bunch of like survival ones. Yeah, 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:54.240 that was a survival guy for a while. You were 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:57.440 wearing that like bush hat. Uh, the Safari hat, yeah, 0:00:57.520 --> 0:01:00.840 where one flap goes up. Huh, Like the jungle guy 0:01:00.880 --> 0:01:02.880 from g I Joe, what was his name? I don't know. 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:07.920 I didn't watch those man, that's crazy crazy, I was 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:14.960 too sophisticated. Uh, Chuck, So do you know the Earth 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:19.600 is about four point eight billion years old? It's old, 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:23.639 super old. That's like so old. It's a lot younger 0:01:23.920 --> 0:01:28.360 some people do. Science is pretty um much in consensus 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:30.679 on the idea. That's about four point eight billion years 0:01:30.680 --> 0:01:34.520 old alright. For about the first billion of those years, 0:01:35.200 --> 0:01:41.000 it was in a crazy state, just loco basically. So 0:01:41.240 --> 0:01:45.440 the whole thing is supposedly formed as an accretion disk, right, 0:01:47.000 --> 0:01:51.400 and the terrestrial planets in our Solar system, which include Earth, Mercury, Venus, 0:01:51.400 --> 0:01:58.240 and mars um happened to attract the heavier elements elemental particles, 0:01:58.240 --> 0:02:01.600 which created a rocky core eventually, and then more and 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:08.280 more stuff was um attracted to this rotating gravity pulsing core, 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:11.920 and the Earth was formed eventually. Right while as it 0:02:12.000 --> 0:02:16.840 was formed or forming, at some point, another celestial body 0:02:17.560 --> 0:02:22.280 which just took off afterward, slammed into Earth. And remember 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:23.880 we talked about the Moon. This is how the Moon 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:27.280 was formed, just basically spit out a bunch of the Earth, 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:30.160 and then the Moon formed its own little lucretion disk, 0:02:30.200 --> 0:02:33.040 and then there was the Moon. Um. But when this 0:02:33.160 --> 0:02:36.920 body hit the Earth, they think that it melted. The 0:02:37.040 --> 0:02:42.960 impact melted the first several thousand kilometers of the Earth's surface. 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:47.000 The depth just melted it. It hit it that hard. 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:52.000 Isn't that cool? Yeah, so I really I raised this all. 0:02:52.240 --> 0:02:56.120 I mentioned all this for two points. One that heat 0:02:56.720 --> 0:03:03.120 that was originally part of the Earth really formation, yes, 0:03:03.600 --> 0:03:07.800 and then secondly, the heat from the impact that eventually 0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:12.640 calved the Moon it's still there too. Wow. Isn't that 0:03:12.680 --> 0:03:15.760 crazy to think that after four point eight billion years 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:21.680 the Earth is still cooling down. Yeah, that's pretty remarkable. 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:25.560 That's not all. So those those account for combined about 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:28.720 half of the heat found in the Earth's court. The 0:03:28.760 --> 0:03:33.760 other half is mostly from radioactive decay of isotopes in 0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:38.840 the core. From these incredibly high temperatures and heat um, 0:03:38.960 --> 0:03:42.920 the particles actually decay and as the decay, a particles 0:03:42.920 --> 0:03:47.160 sloughed off, and when there's an imbalance in the mass, 0:03:47.200 --> 0:03:49.800 that extra mass is released as heat energy. So that's 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:52.400 about half of the heat in the core, but it's substantial. 0:03:53.360 --> 0:04:00.680 It is uh hundred miles, that's sixty clicks down. You're 0:04:00.680 --> 0:04:06.280 gonna have temperatures of about seventies sid degrees fahrenheit. That's 0:04:06.280 --> 0:04:09.200 that's hot. That's the core, baby, And at that core, 0:04:09.400 --> 0:04:11.760 and we should say for our friends everywhere else on Earth, 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:16.240 that's about degrees celsius. That's right. Uh. And at that 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:23.080 core um. We're talking about rock melting temperatures creating magma, 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:25.760 which is that melted rock. So you've got the magma 0:04:25.760 --> 0:04:28.000 down there. It's less dense, so it tends to rise. 0:04:28.800 --> 0:04:31.719 And we talked about a lot in the volcano episode. 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:35.200 We talked about it some in the Geyser's episode. When 0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:38.599 the lava flows, that is the magma. But when it 0:04:38.720 --> 0:04:42.400 just stays down there, it heats up water underground water, 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:46.520 and that escapes, sometimes as geyser's uh, sometimes as hot 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:49.160 springs even. Yeah, it can just be like an underground 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:53.320 reservoir of really really really hot water, yeah, or it 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:56.279 just stays there. And that's what's called a geo thermal reservoir, 0:04:56.400 --> 0:04:59.640 is when you have this really hot water heated by magma, 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:03.240 just hanging out down there waiting to be used. And 0:05:03.320 --> 0:05:07.960 so just in the first fifty kilometers no, I'm sorry, 0:05:08.320 --> 0:05:13.400 just in the first ten kilometers below the Earth's surface, right, yes, 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:19.200 not that deep, there is an estimated fifty thousand times 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:22.400 more energy in the form of heat then there is 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:25.320 in all of the oil and natural gas reserves in 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:29.960 the world. Fifty thousand times more energy. Right, because of 0:05:30.000 --> 0:05:33.560 all this heat and everywhere you go on Earth, you're 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:36.320 going to find in some way, shape or form, this 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:40.960 heat that's in the Earth's surface, beneath the surface. Yes, 0:05:41.160 --> 0:05:44.200 so I said, um, that's just waiting to be used. 0:05:44.240 --> 0:05:46.080 It's not waiting to be used because it is being 0:05:46.200 --> 0:05:49.520 used in the form of geothermal energy. And that is 0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:54.120 not new. Uh. It goes back to the Roman times. 0:05:54.240 --> 0:05:57.719 Ancient Romans used hot springs. Yeah, the city of Bath 0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:01.240 in England, it's a Roman towns right built around hot 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:03.960 springs right here in North America ten thousand years ago. 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:09.520 Are American Paleo Indian friends. They used hot springs, they 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:12.120 bathed in them, they cooked in them. Yeah, they imagine 0:06:12.120 --> 0:06:15.080 that at the same time, I don't know. They could 0:06:15.120 --> 0:06:19.480 be like Cramer. Remember we prepared that radish flower as 0:06:19.520 --> 0:06:24.000 he bathed. Yeah, nice, but stew. Yeah. They used to 0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:28.240 lower FDR into the warm springs at warm Springs, Georgia. 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:32.000 That's right. Uh. And the first real geo thermal heating 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:35.599 system was developed in Boise, Idaho here in the United States. 0:06:36.520 --> 0:06:41.520 But before that, it was developed in Italy and that 0:06:41.600 --> 0:06:44.040 was actually after it. So the one I thought the 0:06:44.040 --> 0:06:46.320 first one was in Pizza and Lord Ela. No, So 0:06:46.400 --> 0:06:49.320 the first and we'll talk about the distinctions in a minute. 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:52.240 But the first the first plant was in Italy. Yeah, 0:06:52.320 --> 0:06:55.919 so that was a geo thermal energy production plant. And Boise, Idaho, 0:06:56.000 --> 0:06:58.960 they used what's called direct geo thermal energy, which is 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:03.680 basically where you just pipe this really hot water and 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:06.640 use it to heat greenhouses in the winter or there's 0:07:06.640 --> 0:07:09.479 a lot of um cities that get snow on the 0:07:09.520 --> 0:07:14.360 ground that have basically radiant heat sidewalks where the heat 0:07:14.400 --> 0:07:17.440 from the geothermal springs nearby is pump an east sidewalks 0:07:17.520 --> 0:07:21.000 or streets to keep the ice from forming. Yeah, Klamath Falls, Oregon, 0:07:21.480 --> 0:07:24.400 they have such a system because they knew we have 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:28.240 a kg r A nearby, which is a known geothermal 0:07:28.280 --> 0:07:31.600 resource area. They have water from about two hundred to 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:35.840 two twenty degrees just sitting underneath the ground, and they, 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:38.000 like you said, melt the sidewalks, They melt their bridges, 0:07:38.520 --> 0:07:41.400 they melted up, melt their faces out there, and anything 0:07:41.440 --> 0:07:44.960 they can with that junk. So, like I said, fifty 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:47.440 thousand times the amount of energy in the form of 0:07:47.480 --> 0:07:49.800 heat just waiting to be used in the first ten 0:07:49.880 --> 0:07:53.520 kilometers below the Earth's surface everywhere on Earth. Yeah, that's 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:57.680 pretty attractive, man, for a few reasons. One, everybody knows 0:07:57.680 --> 0:08:03.160 that fossil fields are dirty, they're problematic, they require transportation. 0:08:03.600 --> 0:08:08.000 And if you think about electrical production in the world, Um, 0:08:08.640 --> 0:08:13.200 the world uses seventeen points seven million megawatts of electricity, 0:08:13.280 --> 0:08:15.240 or it did in two thousand twelve. That's a ton 0:08:15.280 --> 0:08:19.200 of electricity. Most of it was produced by gas, oil 0:08:19.640 --> 0:08:23.280 or coal. And the whole point of all of those 0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:27.520 things is you burn them and you create heat. Then 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:30.160 you use that heat to heat up water, use that 0:08:30.160 --> 0:08:33.880 water to make steam, and use that steam to turn 0:08:33.920 --> 0:08:36.240 a turbine. Yeah, we talked about this in one of 0:08:36.240 --> 0:08:39.960 our other ones. How amazing electricity. Yeah, that just every 0:08:40.400 --> 0:08:42.840 everything we've ever come up with still comes down to 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:45.480 trying to get that steam to turn that turbine. That's 0:08:45.480 --> 0:08:48.040 exactly right. That's why that's why we use all of 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:51.360 these fossil fuels. Is too heat water, not even just 0:08:51.440 --> 0:08:57.800 fossil fuels. Man. Nuclear power uses radioactive and they dip 0:08:57.840 --> 0:08:59.920 it in water, It heats the water up, turns it 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:04.440 in vapor, spins a turbine. I mean, like with geo 0:09:04.480 --> 0:09:06.280 thermal energy. One of the things that makes it so 0:09:06.320 --> 0:09:09.719 attractive as you're cutting out a lot of processes. You're 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:11.360 you're not only are you cutting out the need to 0:09:11.400 --> 0:09:15.000 burn fossil fuels, you're cutting out entire steps which, over 0:09:15.080 --> 0:09:18.560 the course of the plant's lifetime, can reduce the cost 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:22.760 of this geothermal energy production. Yeah. And it is caught 0:09:22.760 --> 0:09:25.000 on in a big way. I believe they are. I 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:29.200 think twenty countries now that are using geothermal energy. The 0:09:29.240 --> 0:09:32.320 United States is leading the way there. Yeah. Surprisingly, I 0:09:32.320 --> 0:09:35.400 didn't realize that. Yeah, but um, if you want to 0:09:35.960 --> 0:09:39.000 really see it in action, go to Iceland into the 0:09:39.000 --> 0:09:42.080 city of Ricky Vick, where basically the entire city is 0:09:42.120 --> 0:09:46.600 heated with those uh geothermal wells. Yeah. And the country 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:49.080 of Iceland as a whole, a quarter of its energy 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:52.400 is produced geothermally amazing. Same with El Salvador. Do you 0:09:52.440 --> 0:09:55.320 know that? Oh well, I thought you're gonna say I 0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:59.160 did not. You got me there. Um. The thing is, though, 0:09:59.240 --> 0:10:03.480 was world, why about seven thousand megawatts of geothermal energy 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:07.120 are produced? And don't forget we use seventeen point seven million. 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:10.520 It's still it is. But we'll talk about the different 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:34.800 kinds of geothermal energy right after this. All right, kinds 0:10:34.800 --> 0:10:37.280 of geothermal energy I like this of you know that 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:40.200 earth science jazz is me man. Yeah, well, whatever I 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:43.240 did for this many years ago, I remember being very 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:45.240 turned on by it. I don't know if it was 0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:49.079 updating or writing. I just remember thinking, man, this is cool. 0:10:49.200 --> 0:10:51.880 And if you are a critic of geothermal energy, hold 0:10:51.920 --> 0:10:54.400 your horses. We understand that there's problems with it. We're 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:59.280 just talking about geothermal energy and it's it's pros right now. Boy, 0:10:59.320 --> 0:11:02.680 people get upset about alternative fuel sources. I've never under 0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:07.200 gotten that. You know, there's a lot of money at Steak, 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:12.160 a lot of geopolitical posturing and power and stuff at steak. 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:15.560 The world's based on fossil fuels. I know, but I 0:11:15.559 --> 0:11:17.320 don't know. It just doesn't make sense. It seems like 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:20.079 it would make more sense even for economies to like, hey, 0:11:20.160 --> 0:11:23.640 let's pursue it all. Well that's the that's the you know, 0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:28.240 that seems to be the prevalent mindset these days, an 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:31.520 energy policy that includes everything. Yeah, although I think a 0:11:31.520 --> 0:11:33.559 lot of that though, is is just kind of paying 0:11:33.600 --> 0:11:36.360 lip service to the alternative stuff, and it gives you, 0:11:36.760 --> 0:11:40.240 um a blank check to pursue fossil fuels more because 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:42.839 you seem like you're an open minded person. Yeah, it's 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:45.079 just weird. I just I don't know. You hear something 0:11:45.120 --> 0:11:48.040 about like solar power and you think I think, well 0:11:48.080 --> 0:11:51.679 that's neat, and I'll post something about that. What does 0:11:51.720 --> 0:11:54.600 solar power make? You think? Well, that's neat and I'll 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:56.199 post something about it on the stuff you should know 0:11:56.200 --> 0:12:00.200 Facebook wall And people are just stupid. That's so, why 0:12:00.240 --> 0:12:02.920 would anyone do that? Is up with like Facebook and 0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:06.320 stuff like that? The worst in people. Give a man 0:12:06.360 --> 0:12:09.800 of mask and he will show his true face wise words. 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:12.000 Did you just make that up? No, that's an old thing. 0:12:13.640 --> 0:12:17.200 I think anything that says give a man uh automatically 0:12:17.280 --> 0:12:19.880 reveals his age. You know, been around the block a 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:22.120 few times. Give a man of fish, he'll eat for 0:12:22.120 --> 0:12:25.080 a day. Teach a man to fish, he'll eat for 0:12:25.480 --> 0:12:27.920 at least two or three days if the fish are biting. 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:30.480 Did you make that one up? Oh, that's a good one. 0:12:30.559 --> 0:12:34.640 Chuck the T shirt. I never catch fish, so it 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:37.240 should say teach a man to teach. Chuck the fish, 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:39.640 and he'll starve because he is a very good at catch. 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:44.040 Can't get a bite, Nope, he'll go to Arthur treachers instead. 0:12:45.280 --> 0:12:48.280 Man that's still around. I think they there was one 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:50.160 in l A that I remember. It seems like Captain 0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:52.600 D's really took over the market. I don't even see 0:12:52.640 --> 0:12:55.600 Long John Silvers anymore. There's still Long John's, but I 0:12:55.600 --> 0:12:58.319 mean like it's more Captain D's than anything, well as 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:00.920 it should be. Are you a Captain D's over Long 0:13:01.040 --> 0:13:03.920 Jon's fan? Uh? I grew up on Long Done Silver's. 0:13:03.960 --> 0:13:07.240 They got me with the free pirate hats. Yeah. Um, 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:10.920 I think I like the Captain D's better. I just 0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:14.040 I just like Fried Fishy. Is Arthur Treachers like an 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:16.280 also ran just like those? Or is it like a 0:13:16.320 --> 0:13:19.000 little fancier now? I think it was just another chain, 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:21.800 but it has seen its better days in the past. 0:13:22.200 --> 0:13:24.320 If I'm not mistaken, I might be wrong. Someone tell 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:26.679 me about Arthur Treachers. Yeah, if you work at Arthur Treachers, 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:30.280 let us know if it's still around, all right. Direct 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:34.080 geo thermal energy that is, uh, that is where you 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:39.120 have one of those known geothermal resource areas, um, not 0:13:39.320 --> 0:13:42.319 too far under the earth surface. That's like if you're 0:13:42.360 --> 0:13:44.960 located near a place where there are these hot pools. Yeah, 0:13:44.960 --> 0:13:47.560 and you're not doing anything fancy with it. You're just 0:13:47.600 --> 0:13:52.160 basically piping that hot water into say a house and 0:13:52.280 --> 0:13:54.880 using it as hot water at that house, which is 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:58.880 what that Boise District did um back in two And 0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:02.880 you want to know something amaze, but that geo thermal 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:08.079 um direct use plant is still heating fo homes and 0:14:08.160 --> 0:14:12.160 Boise today. Uh. And it is not just to give 0:14:12.200 --> 0:14:14.320 you hot water. Um. You can also use a heat 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:17.199 exchanger and incorporate into your HVAC system and all of 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:20.080 a sudden you are using that heated water to heat 0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:22.480 your home as well and to cool your home. Right. 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:25.560 So that's that's a geo thermal heat pump, I believe, right, 0:14:26.920 --> 0:14:29.600 Uh what to heat and cool? Yeah, so I think 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:32.640 I think those are both. Like a geothermal heat pump 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:35.920 is an example of direct geo thermal energy. Direct geo 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:39.720 thermal energy is not necessarily just like using the hot 0:14:39.720 --> 0:14:41.920 water to heat and cool your house. You could also 0:14:42.000 --> 0:14:44.440 be yeah exactly, or you can just use the hot 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:47.000 water directly to like wash your dishes or something like that. 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:50.680 But with like when you're using a heat exchange or something. 0:14:50.920 --> 0:14:54.240 This is actually extremely clever and it's it's been around 0:14:54.240 --> 0:14:56.960 for a very long time and as the green movements 0:14:57.040 --> 0:15:00.600 kind of caught on. Stupid movement. It's this older technology 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:05.880 that's starting to get re uh discovered, I guess. But basically, 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:08.360 if you use the geothermal heat pump, the whole idea 0:15:08.440 --> 0:15:12.000 is that you bury in the ground beneath your house 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:17.680 some pipes, a closed pipe system, and there's like an 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:21.400 h v A C system in your house that uh 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:26.480 circulates air or say something like water or anti freeze 0:15:27.000 --> 0:15:31.320 through these pipes, and it takes the heat from your 0:15:31.320 --> 0:15:35.840 house and exchanges it through this heat exchanger in the summer, 0:15:36.280 --> 0:15:39.880 sends it through the underground where it's cooler than it 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:43.040 is in your house in the summer, so that that water, 0:15:43.160 --> 0:15:45.600 anti freeze or whatever is cooled, which brings it back 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:48.160 and then cools the air in your h v A 0:15:48.200 --> 0:15:51.080 C system, which then blows out through your duct work. Yeah, 0:15:51.120 --> 0:15:54.080 just a few feet under your feet underground, it's fifty 0:15:54.160 --> 0:15:56.920 to sixty degrees year round. Yeah, below the frost line, 0:15:56.920 --> 0:16:00.360 which is usually about ten ft below ground. Uh. And yeah, 0:16:00.640 --> 0:16:04.480 if you you can, since it's a steady temperature um 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:07.440 depending on the season, especially if you have wild seasonal 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:10.640 fluctuations where it gets really cold and really hot depending 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:13.800 on yeah, Um, then you can really take advantage of this. 0:16:14.080 --> 0:16:16.600 So the whole idea is if it's say like fifty 0:16:16.600 --> 0:16:20.040 degrees in the summertime, when it's ninety degrees, if you're 0:16:20.400 --> 0:16:24.280 cooling that liquid that's in turn cooling your air, that's easy. 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:27.520 But fifty degrees in the winner that seems you know, 0:16:28.080 --> 0:16:31.640 not that much warmer, but just that little bit of 0:16:32.040 --> 0:16:35.600 warmth that extra is, say twenty degrees on a particularly 0:16:35.640 --> 0:16:39.080 cold day, that heats up that air, which means that 0:16:39.120 --> 0:16:42.600 your h v a C system has less has less 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:46.320 energy to expend in further heating up the air to 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:51.960 say seventy five degrees exactly. So you're still using like 0:16:52.000 --> 0:16:54.720 a lot of the same technology like a compressor and 0:16:54.760 --> 0:16:57.240 all of that that you would use with a traditional 0:16:57.320 --> 0:17:00.200 h v A C system in your home. But this 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:05.359 the the the steady temperature of the ground is like 0:17:05.400 --> 0:17:08.600 you said, assisting that, so you're having you're using less 0:17:08.680 --> 0:17:11.359 energy and and thus your energy costs are less as well. 0:17:11.480 --> 0:17:14.080 Plus it's reliable, it's not you know that it's going 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:17.280 to be between fifty and sixty degrees all year round, 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:20.880 all year round. The third way that you can use 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:23.240 this is with the power plant, like we talked about, 0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:27.120 and that is when they, like we said, they generate, 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:31.400 they pipe it up through the wells and they generate electricity. Uh. 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:33.479 There are dry steam plants where they just pipe it 0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:38.560 directly uh into the generator empower it. That's I guess 0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:41.880 the easiest and most cost efficient. Yeah, that's that's just yeah. 0:17:41.880 --> 0:17:45.640 I think the one in uh Italy um and where 0:17:45.840 --> 0:17:50.440 Lardarello I think is Lardarello, Italy in four it's still 0:17:50.480 --> 0:17:53.919 in in online today. Basically, we have the steam, right, 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:56.680 and let's use it, and let's just put a turbine 0:17:56.680 --> 0:17:58.960 on top of it, and so it cuts out all 0:17:59.000 --> 0:18:02.240 those middlemen. It's just you're using the steam, naturally produced 0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:05.199 steam underground to spind the turbine to produce electricity. Right. 0:18:05.200 --> 0:18:08.119 And obviously you have to have um a great amount 0:18:08.119 --> 0:18:11.200 of uh luck I guess to be located near such 0:18:11.200 --> 0:18:13.680 a place. Right. And that's so that's considered a dry 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:16.359 steam plant. Yes. Then you have the flash steam, and 0:18:16.400 --> 0:18:20.320 that's water between three hundred and seven hundred degrees fahrenheit 0:18:20.359 --> 0:18:23.240 which is super hot that they draw up through a well, 0:18:24.000 --> 0:18:26.640 uh and then use that steam to spind the turbine. 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:30.480 That's right. And then there's binary cycle plants. So UM, 0:18:30.560 --> 0:18:36.480 let's say you're not located over a super hot reservoir, UM, 0:18:36.520 --> 0:18:38.880 but you still have pretty hot water something that would 0:18:38.880 --> 0:18:42.160 be considered like a hot springs. Typically this is between 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:45.879 a hundred and fifty and three hundred degree water UM, 0:18:46.680 --> 0:18:49.040 which is as low as or as high as a 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:52.560 hundred and forty eight degrees celsius. Right, And what you 0:18:52.640 --> 0:18:55.600 do is you take this water and you use it 0:18:55.680 --> 0:18:59.320 to heat another liquid that has a lower boiling point. 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:03.520 Pretty clever. Then when that liquid with the lower boiling 0:19:03.560 --> 0:19:07.720 point begins to boil, it creates the steam that powers 0:19:07.760 --> 0:19:10.240 the turbine. So again that's like an assist I would 0:19:10.240 --> 0:19:13.600 say probably. And then lastly, there's another one that's newer 0:19:13.840 --> 0:19:18.000 UM that's called enhanced geo Thermal energy, and basically a 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:24.439 uses fracking techniques to UM create a geothermal hot spot. 0:19:24.840 --> 0:19:27.120 So they go in and they dig wells, they dig 0:19:27.119 --> 0:19:30.800 a deposit well, and they dig another well and exit 0:19:30.880 --> 0:19:34.880 well right. Um. And then in between those two they 0:19:34.920 --> 0:19:36.680 go in and just break up a bunch of this 0:19:36.880 --> 0:19:40.200 really hot rock where there's no water necessarily but it's 0:19:40.240 --> 0:19:44.520 super hot, right, and then they pump water into this 0:19:44.880 --> 0:19:48.000 um hot rock bed, let it heat up, and then 0:19:48.040 --> 0:19:50.800 they let the hot water come back up the other well, 0:19:51.480 --> 0:19:53.840 and then they use that to create steam, usually like 0:19:53.880 --> 0:19:57.600 a binary cycle plant. And again that spins the turbine. 0:19:57.720 --> 0:20:00.320 It's all about spinning that turbine. All about been in 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:02.440 the turbine, man, all right, So let's take a break 0:20:02.480 --> 0:20:05.840 here and we will finish up with I guess the 0:20:05.880 --> 0:20:08.639 lowdown on how it compares to other forms of energy 0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:31.920 out there. All right, So here we are. Is it good? 0:20:32.280 --> 0:20:37.280 Is it bad? Well, like everything, it's both land on 0:20:37.320 --> 0:20:40.199 the good side, though I think it's typically good. The 0:20:40.240 --> 0:20:45.440 thing is, the bad stuff is so um rarely mentioned. 0:20:45.800 --> 0:20:48.040 You know. Everybody thinks like geo thermal it's as green 0:20:48.080 --> 0:20:51.160 as it gets, and there are like a really there's 0:20:51.200 --> 0:20:54.240 a lot of about geo thermal energy that is very green. 0:20:54.600 --> 0:20:58.560 For the most part, it emits very very little carbon 0:20:58.600 --> 0:21:02.879 dioxide compared to a fossil fuel power plant. Yes, I 0:21:02.920 --> 0:21:05.919 have some numbers on that. In fact, by the way, 0:21:05.960 --> 0:21:08.040 if you've ever driven by a geo thermal plant, you 0:21:08.080 --> 0:21:11.439 see the smoke coming out, that's not smoke, that's water vapor. 0:21:11.960 --> 0:21:14.960 So don't get all up on your hackles water vapor 0:21:15.080 --> 0:21:17.199 just water vapor, which and I looked this up, I 0:21:17.200 --> 0:21:19.960 couldn't find anything. Water vapors are greenhouse gas as well, 0:21:19.960 --> 0:21:22.439 like a pretty bad one. But I didn't see anything 0:21:22.440 --> 0:21:25.800 where that that was like a problem with geo thermal energy. 0:21:25.960 --> 0:21:29.800 Oh yeah, alright, So here's some numbers. They did a 0:21:29.800 --> 0:21:36.040 case study of a coal plant. They meaning scientist scientists 0:21:36.040 --> 0:21:38.760 science doer may or may not have been funded by 0:21:38.800 --> 0:21:43.399 a front group. Uh, they said, Um, they studied a 0:21:43.400 --> 0:21:48.680 coal plant with uh scrubbers with good scrubbers and emissions 0:21:48.720 --> 0:21:52.680 control technology, so basically a newer coal plant, And they 0:21:52.680 --> 0:21:56.000 said that admitted twenty four times more CEO two and 0:21:56.240 --> 0:22:00.399 almost eleven thousand times more sulfur dioxide and about thirty 0:22:00.400 --> 0:22:04.679 eight hundred times more nitrous oxide per megawatt hour than 0:22:04.720 --> 0:22:10.520 a geothermal steam plant. Pretty good, that's not bad at all. Um. However, 0:22:10.600 --> 0:22:14.679 one of the one of the concerns with geothermal is 0:22:14.840 --> 0:22:18.760 it does emit sulfur dioxide, which gives it a horrible 0:22:18.840 --> 0:22:23.359 eggy smell, yes, and contributes to acid rain. But s 0:22:23.440 --> 0:22:26.040 O two emissions from geothermal plants for about thirty times 0:22:26.040 --> 0:22:29.439 lower per megawott hour than coal plants, which are the 0:22:29.560 --> 0:22:32.679 largest s O two source, So that is one of 0:22:32.720 --> 0:22:36.239 the bad emissions. Other than that, not a whole lot 0:22:36.280 --> 0:22:40.400 of really harmful emissions. No. UM. Most of the problems 0:22:40.440 --> 0:22:45.000 that come from geothermal energy production come from the fact 0:22:45.040 --> 0:22:50.440 that when you are harvesting hot water from these geothermal sources. UM. 0:22:50.560 --> 0:22:53.639 Before they used to just pump it out. Yeah, that 0:22:53.720 --> 0:22:56.840 was an open loop system, and they much anymore, and 0:22:56.920 --> 0:22:59.280 they figured out that this is a huge waste of 0:22:59.320 --> 0:23:03.400 a resource, right, so they started making clothed loop systems 0:23:03.440 --> 0:23:06.119 where the water would be pumped out, it would be 0:23:06.240 --> 0:23:09.440 used to say heat some other um fluid with a 0:23:09.520 --> 0:23:13.000 lower boiling point or however you used it to to 0:23:13.119 --> 0:23:15.760 make that turbine spin, and then the water would be 0:23:15.800 --> 0:23:18.600 captured and then sent back down into the reservoir to 0:23:18.640 --> 0:23:22.119 be reheated and used again. Super smart, It is very smart, 0:23:22.160 --> 0:23:24.679 and in that case there's even fewer emissions than with 0:23:24.800 --> 0:23:28.199 an open loop system. The problem is is that it 0:23:28.280 --> 0:23:33.120 also leads to introduction of things like salts, sometimes arsenic, 0:23:33.280 --> 0:23:38.520 other heavy metals into the groundwater supply UM once it 0:23:38.560 --> 0:23:41.040 comes through and makes the cycle, So there's a there's 0:23:41.040 --> 0:23:45.000 a threat to groundwater contamination. Using geothermal energy production. That's 0:23:45.000 --> 0:23:48.719 one problem with it. Another one is those hotbeds that 0:23:48.760 --> 0:23:52.760 are used that basically use fracking techniques. Just like with fracking, 0:23:53.000 --> 0:23:56.800 they can cause things like earthquakes or like massive earth sinking. 0:23:56.840 --> 0:24:01.199 There's probably a geothermal plant in Off, Autralia where the 0:24:01.280 --> 0:24:04.280 area is sunk about five feet ever since it's been 0:24:04.320 --> 0:24:07.200 in production. Wow. Yeah, because you're going in and you're 0:24:07.359 --> 0:24:09.640 sucking out all the water, you're breaking up a bunch 0:24:09.640 --> 0:24:13.040 of rocks that form bedrock. You know, so when you 0:24:13.040 --> 0:24:17.359 start messing with that stuff, it can have seismic um repercussions. 0:24:18.160 --> 0:24:21.879 That's a good band name. Thanks. Uh. Noise pollution is 0:24:21.920 --> 0:24:25.120 on the plus side because they say it typically produces 0:24:25.200 --> 0:24:30.480 less noise than the equivalent of leaves rustling from breeze. 0:24:30.800 --> 0:24:34.200 Is not ba plus the the typical geothermal power plant 0:24:34.240 --> 0:24:37.000 takes about a lot less real estate. Yeah, you can 0:24:37.040 --> 0:24:41.679 do a vertical system, uh if it suits the area, 0:24:41.840 --> 0:24:44.600 and that really doesn't use up much UM as far 0:24:44.640 --> 0:24:47.640