I have an idea which I believe could produce unlimited energy, Veeky Forums.
(just a spoiler, i am an undergrad who knows nothing, perhaps there is some giant thing i am missing that would make this not work)
So, geothermal energy works because water is heated by the earth until it boils and the steam spins turbines, correct?
I am guessing the limiting factors with conventional geothermal energy is the availability of this water heated by the earth; I am guessing in most cases, it is brought in externally...
My idea: What if we made a giant pipe that goes into the ground over the ocean? The ocean water would flow in along the sides of the pipe, and once it goes deep enough, heat from the earth would turn it to steam, then it raises in the center of the pipe to a turbine up above
i envision these being built in places like beaches, where it wouldnt have to go too far out into the ocean where it could be subject to great pressure from the water, however, there is still open water flowing over the head of the pipe
there are already geothermal power plants. Your proposal is "build a geothermal power plant next to the ocean," which has also already been done.
Grayson Lee
consider the following, the water from the ocean is the only limiting factor here, the earth isnt gonna cool down, and ocean water will continue to flow into the pipe
the energy would be virtually unlimited for our uses
I am not proposing using this energy to go to the fucking sun
Kevin Green
>the water from the ocean is the only limiting factor here there are serious environmental concerns with just pumping seawater into a boiler. Where is your wastewater dumped? If you just pour it back into the ocean, you could create an enormous dead zone with the waste heat alone.
Sebastian Roberts
wont be any wastewater, all the water that flows down the pipe will turn to steam and flow up to the turbine
here I made a clearer picture, the pipe would be supported with cross bearings or whatever the fuck thats called
how do i copyright this
Sebastian Morales
Geothermal plants exist. There are very few locations where the heated mantle of the earth is accessible. The deepest hole ever drilled is nowhere near the average thickness of Earth's crust. Sustainable power sources will always be location-based.
Ian Price
>earthquake >generator destroyed forever
>try to expand size of turbine shaft >find out the pressure the earth exerts on it prevents you from widening it >you spend a shitload of money and time building a power plant less efficient than a coal plant
>mfw
Adrian Myers
>what is flora >what is fauna
Ian Morgan
literally the stupidest fucking issue you could think of
what if there was a filter, you dont think this would solve the problem?
Owen Jones
literally no op
Easton Peterson
literally why give me a reason
it'll work goddammit you are just jealous you didnt think of this
Ian Miller
it's not that your idea is shit it's just that it's a worse idea than anything else you could have thought of
Nolan Stewart
you have 0 constructive criticism. i bet you are masturbating to my drawings right now, thinking about how much energy they could produce
just fantasizing about how much better the world could be with my ideas
Cooper Thomas
>you are just jealous you didnt think of this no you fucking- oh wait this is bait
Elijah Nelson
yeah youre not even vaguely serious about this
David Reyes
>tell everyone your idea >how do i copyright this wew lad
Owen Taylor
how the fuck is this bait? this idea really could work.
the water flows down the pipe, till it reaches a place inside the earth hot enough to turn the water to steam, which rises and turns a turbine up above
the only things which limits this machine would be the rate the water flows down the pipe, because the source (the ocean) is virtually unlimited
and I suppose the rate at which the water could also turn to steam, which wouldnt be a problem
it's not about the money for me. I just want to see the world be a better place for everyone, that's all. If my ideas can help the world, that's enough for me.
Ryder Stewart
Yes, that could work.
The biggest problem is actually the fact you don't get much energy from it. Sure, it'd be plenty of energy for you and I, but the rest of humanity is fucking energy hungry bastards that don't give a shit if their 52" TV and 1200watt PC is left on 24/7 in their under-insulated house.
Nicholas Nguyen
There's nothing conceptually wrong with OP's idea (aside from the free energy claims) It's just a geothermal plant. However as with all plants they aren't widespread because the mantle is very hard to access.
Ryder Parker
Too late already taken idea on way to patent office now. Sorry slowbro :^)
James Diaz
Why do you think this would be better than just building some more wind turbines or some other modern power plant OP?
Your idea is 'might' be technically sound but not useful in any sense.
Adrian Johnson
>free energy
ok, what I mean by unlimited energy is, the water from the ocean will never, ever stop flowing down the pipe. wont it generate energy that is virtually unlimited? perhaps thats the wrong word but you get what i mean
its not limited by wind only being sometimes, and at variable speeds, its not limited by sunlight only being for half the day, and being able to be covered by clouds.
and can you explain what you mean by the mantle is hard to access? once you put down the foundations of the pipe far enough down to boil the water, you dont need to access it again, right?
>wind turbines or some other modern power plant OP? because those are variable, wind isnt a constant like the water in the ocean
this idea could create a lot more energy, because the pipe doesnt have to be on land, we could create a lot more of these pipes, they dont really disrupt ecosystems like wind turbines or whatever
Christian Long
>this idea could create a lot more energy
That's where the problem comes from, it actually doesn't. Your idea is just a less efficient geothermal power plant that requires an incredible investment and possibly even engineering techniques that don't exist to produce a very ordinary amount of power.
A variable power supply is not ideal but it's not unworkable. Storage and powerplants with variable output exist and are plenty viable.
Xavier Wright
You would transport thermal energy out of earth and turn it into electrical energy. You would just cool down the earth and probably fuck us all up because the iron core of earth would stop spinning and creating a magnetic field. OP, your idea does not make sense in the long run
Colton Brown
I can think of one practical problem: the geology, specifically the depth of hot rocks.
In geologically stable areas you have to go very, very deep before you can raise steam in commercially reasonable amounts. And we are takling multi megawatts here. The cost of such drilling would be huge.
In areas where you do not need to go so deeply the rock formations tend to be unstable do the tube would be sheared off after a while, literally cutting off the heat flow.
Austin Jackson
You also believe that it is the singing from dolphins that create the ozone layer, right?
Adam Foster
in theory this would work, but the construction of a pipe big and deep enough to get any kind of reaction would cost way more money than the value of the energy that would come out of it, steam was never a good fuel source
lmao
James Cruz
what about all the salt and minerals that would build up? what about all the biofouling? what about all the corrosion? what would you do if a pipe cracked? How would you ensure all your steam made it up to turn the turbines? couldn't it just condense back down so you just have a really hot and salty well?
there are a number of reason why this wouldn't work
Benjamin Sanders
All those problems are solved in a ton of other unrelated technologies, they should be easily solved in something like this.
The problem is the amount of power you can get from this and its distribution. Same as with anything else really. Not only that, but this very thing has already been done. And, guess what? It actually causes seismic activity to increase in the area.
Been done. Hope it doesn't become popular, it causes earthquakes just like fracking does.
Brody Moore
There are cables created out there that transmit heat through them almost instaneously similar to fibre optics, projects have been conceptualized to put one end of these extremely long cables into the core of the earth, and the other into the geothermal plants
Colton Long
Whhat about the salts
Dominic James
>Been done. Hope it doesn't become popular, it causes earthquakes just like fracking does.
Oh damn, at least this validates my idea I guess
Why does this cause earthquakes, why does fracking cause earthquakes?
Is it the very act of drilling into the Earth's mantle that causes earthquakes?
Easton Rogers
>Why does hydraulically fracturing the crust of the earth cause earthquakes I dunno man.
Juan Fisher
It already exists.
Jose Mitchell
>are solved Not really, we just have temporary bandaids for them.
Ryder Scott
you sound like you are knowledgeable in this subject, do you design power plants or something
Adrian Davis
>a lot of power >no math to support You are not aware of many discouraging points, and our greatest target for energy is the sun. Read Michio Kaku, it's accessible for you
Caleb Thomas
Would sticking a power plant over the top of an undersea vent be easier? How long do those vents last?
Zachary Bennett
No, I just used intuition and basic knowledge of some of the inherent problems associated with seawater and ya know just actually thinking
Liam Collins
i dont know senpai biofouling is a pretty big word for a layman
Thomas Torres
please see >basic knowledge of some of the inherent problems associated with seawater in this would include knowledge of biofouling please use your brain
