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'Breakthrough' geothermal tech produces 3.5 megawatts of carbon-free power | Fervo Energy's Nevada site is slated to power Google data centers.

'Breakthrough' geothermal tech produces 3.5 megawatts of carbon-free power | Engadget

https://www.engadget.com/breakthrough-geothermal-tech-produces-35-megawatts-of-carbon-free-power-210032356.html

An energy company called Fervo says it has achieved a breakthrough in geothermal technology.

'Breakthrough' geothermal tech produces 3.5 megawatts of carbon-free power | Engadget

'Breakthrough' geothermal tech produces 3.5 megawatts of carbon-free power | Fervo Energy's Nevada site is slated to power Google data centers.::An energy company called Fervo says it has achieved a breakthrough in geothermal technology.

14 comments

Hotdogman

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We're gonna need this technology for our cities underground once they release the ai and it takes over the surface. We should probably cover the sky so the ai doesn't use solar power.

Holymoly

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Good idea, hopefully they don’t just turn humans into terribly inefficient batteries that make literally no sense

Lmaydev

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Haha the original idea of using our brains for processing power made way more sense.

ultratiem

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Wowa slow down there Copper Top!

TurboDiesel

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I may be reading this wrong, but am I the only one for whom this sounds a lot like fracking, minus the gas extraction? I'd be curious to see the knock-on effects in the surrounding area.

Hopefully I'm wrong, because I feel like this could be a pretty big leap for energy generation.

burningquestion

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bouncingbollocks

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You are not reading it wrong

Lmaydev

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Isn't the entire problem with fracking the gas extraction? Otherwise it's just digging a hole.

TurboDiesel

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My understanding is that it can also cause a lot of soil instability and subsidence in the area, but this may be different? Like I said, I'm happy to be wrong.

gon

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Is someone about to be murdered by the CIA?

crypticthree

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If this proves to be a viable alternative energy source, it will employ most of the extant petro-industry. This is a win for the status quo economically speaking

Hotzilla

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I am bit sceptical, but I hope it works. Company that I work is part of project that drills geothermal to 7km deep. This tech is challenging in general.

300 000 homes sounds to me near impossible. Also article talks 3,6MW, but doesn't specify is it MWt or MWe. I assume it is heat, which to converted in turbine to electricity is less than 1.5MW electricity. Also talking about power (MW), but not energy (MWh) is bit strange, and to me sounds that it is just peak what they got.

Edit: the actual paper talks about peak power: https://eartharxiv.org/repository/object/5704/download/11142/