Quote:
Originally Posted by Tempest
I read an MIT report recently about geo thermal energy for the US and to me it appears that it's the very best option for long term... So why is everyone pushing for drilling more oil (non renewable), moving towards natural gas (non renewable), "clean" coal (non renewable plus it's actually dirty and costs more than geothermal), wind (subject to daily weather and long term climate changes), solar (subject to daily weather and long term climate changes) and bio-fuels (risk to food crops, subject to seasonal weather and long term climate changes).
This is for electrical energy generation for buildings, electric vehicles etc.
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The reason is it's a lot quicker and a lot cheaper to get energy from drilling, and we do need it quickly. Geothermal, or at least Hot Fractured Rocks is isn't "proven" on a large scale and would require significant time and investment to creature the infrastructure and develop the resources. But do I agree 110% that it's one of the central planks we should be moving forward on RIGHT NOW so that in 5 years we're not having the same argument about time and development. Really we need to be doing ALL things. Drilling for more oil and gas, developing wave, solar nano pv and thermal, geothermal, waste biomass, ground tethered gulf stream kites for wind power etc. There won't only be one solution. Hell it won't be long till we're doing coal to gas even though it's pretty much the single worst thing you can do for the environment.
The question isn't why are we drilling for oil and not geothermal, it's why aren't treating alternative energy as a "New Deal" scenario and pouring billions into it from other areas, including the defense budget as it is a national security issue.