Geothermal Energy: What, Where, & How

[@yacan1]

A rich family friend built a cabin in the woods of the laurel highlands here in Pennsylvania, he used geothermal for his house and it was one of the most impressive utility setups I've ever seen. The job was disgustingly professional. The piping was the most immaculate I've ever seen.

[@BillGreenAZ]

I've never seen "disgustingly" and "professional" used in the same sentence before. Interesting.

[@rickh950]

I have drilled several geothermal wells in my career. It is true that geothermal power is a viable alternative to fossil fuels, but only in the right circumstances. Just as you mentioned, it is only economic where the geothermal gradient is high enough to allow high temps to be reached at a relatively shallow depth. But the well and the surface equipment are only the initial capital outlay. The wells do not last as long as a typical oil or gas well due to the corrosive and abrasive nature of geothermal fluids. So, the wells and the surface equipment need to be replaced more frequently. Also the source needs to be fairly close to the application for a closed-loop system (think residential heating). This too can be prohibitive. But, where a high geo gradient can be used, it is possible to produce steam to drive a turbine. This electricity can be transported over a much greater distance. When natural gas hits the $15 - $20/mcf range for an extended period of time geothermal energy will become more economical. For the last several years it has been in the $2.50 - $$5.00 /mcf range.

[@gard0158]

The shirt immediately gave me a chuckle - especially after clicking on a geothermal energy video.

[@joebarrera334]

Shirt checks out. Great video as usual, King.

[@southend26]

This is awesome. Surprised me that Japan doesn't have more geothermal. They need energy and have had money for a while.

[@bryantsteury8910]

I was thinking the same thing esp given their proximity to so much undersea "heat" as it were. But I suppose they're bigger on nuclear than we are?

[@andrewrobison6335]

@@bryantsteury8910 That would be my guess as well

[@samarabob]

I heard that the hot springs that are popular there lobby against it because they're concerned it would weaken the natural hot water they rely on.

[@architypeone8646]

I designed my parent's house in Richmond , KY and it was originally heated with passive solar and a wood stove. When my dad got tired of cutting firewood, they installed a geothermal heat pump in 1990. They were heating and cooling about 3000 sq. ft. and their electric bill averaged $90 a month. This included heating the domestic hot water for the house with the same heat pump. When we sold the house 25 years later, we only needed to replace a small circulating pump for $300....it was starting to make a little noise. There was no outside condensing unit to hide or create noise and the air coming out of the vents was always hot. They drilled 4 wells to run the piping into the ground and the installation was fairly simple. Geothermal systems costs more initially than a typical heating and cooling system, but they pay for themselves over time, and the comfort level is greater than an air to air heat pump. There are also fewer moving parts so there isn't much to go wrong or repair.

[@MountainFisher]

Been my experience that heat pumps where it gets really cold are useless in winter unless they utilize the heat underground even if it isn't hot. Trying to do heat exchange with cold air turns on the heating coils and it ran 24/7. One bedroom 700 square feet cost $300+ a month when it dropped into the 20s and stayed there. I found it was cheaper to turn the emergency heat on and forego the exchange, saved $50 a month when it got cold. My next place I buried the exchange vents 6 feet deep and and my winter bill dropped to $120 because underground temps in the 50s was a lot better than the 15 degree heat of the air and my vents pumped out hot air instead of the pathetic 1 degree warmer air of a regular heat pump. Lived in the mountains of North Carolina and temperatures were not heat pump temps like over by the coastal plains.

[@travelingwithrick]

Berkshire Hathaway heavily invested in geothermal activity on the southern shores of the Salton Sea. Predictions are this area will eventually produce 40% of the world's supply of lithium. Mudpots huge feature of this area. Warren Buffett may be old but he is forward thinking. Important topic, well done Kyle.

[@rogerpenske2411]

Proving once again, that no one has ever gone broke underestimating the stupidity of the American public.

[@terryvuylsteke2434]

Kyle, love your channel, and sweet shirt to boot. Not being selfish here, or "shelf fish" lol, but when you cut off Canada on the map, c'mon man, we're here too.

[@Cx_Howlett]

Another great video Kyle! Not the tradition country/state content, continue to branch out it’s fantastic

[@mbkarhu1]

Once again so informative, thank you! In the seventies we kids at school in Finland were told that in Iceland they grow their own bananas in greenhouses using geothermal enrgy -it sounded so cool.

[@jrunn93]

Love the content, and that shirt, Kyle 😂

[@paulheydarian1281]

Nice Tee. It really cracked me up...!!!😅

[@jen_alanfromchicago53]

I see what you did there😏

[@ForestSchweitzer022097]

awesome video as always Kyle! love the shirt

[@machinesofgod]

My dad used to work at the Geysers in Northern California. I got to see the power plants as a kid, it was pretty cool.

[@margefoyle6796]

Fantastic video, Kyle! I don't think most people are aware that the field of geography covers things like the distribution of energy resources and where they are utilized, so this is wonderful that you are highlighting it. I had no idea there was a large geothermal plant near me (the geysers)! I wonder if I can tour it... I'll look into it.

[@GeographyKing]

I can make anything geography!

[@rebeccaketner816]

Excellent info Kyle, thank you so much! Another situation we need to put our differences aside and work together!

[@chriserickson7559]

This a great topic!!

[@polyphonicdavid]

love this topic, video, and the tshirt!

[@danielcarroll3358]

Geothermal has two meanings. The first is using hot water or steam from the ground to make electricity or heat buildings directly. The second is using the ground as a heat source and sink with a heat pump. In summer you pump heat into the ground to cool buildings and in winter you pump heat out of the ground to heat buildings. The images here show both. The first is usually a utility scale project, although I have taken a shower at a hotel in Rotorua where the water was heated in a heat exchanger by steam from a well in the back yard. The second is often done at private homes and businesses. My house uses the more common air to air heat pump, but I did think about the alternative as it is twice as efficient but more expensive.

[@cincodemanny]

As a geologist, this has ALWAYS impressed me 😁

[@googoo-gjoob]

i built a new home 11 years ago when i was 53. i live in MD. after federal, state, county incentives, the break even point was 7 years. this means ill enjoy free heat/ac for the rest of my life... except paying for the electricity to circulate. the *biggest* bang for the buck.

[@spencersandberg7753]

Thanks Kyle! This is one of my favorite videos you've done in a while.

[@DadHut]

Fun fact, here in Idaho, our Capitol Building is the only one in the United States heated by geothermal water. The hot water is tapped and pumped from a source 3,000 feet underground.

[@stefanschneider3681]

That was interesting! Here in Switzerland the two larger test-drillings both startet some seismic activity in the area around it, so at the moment everything is on hold ...

[@Rogovyi]

Interesting topic. Has been on my mind for a while. City of Klamath Falls, OR has been using the geothermal energy to heat sidewalks, public buildings, and homes.

[@ttmilbr]

That was great. Never understood it before, thanks!

[@coveringcambria]

Thank you

[@noahsmith1726]

I'm radically against the youtube algorithm, another really good video.

[@markwilson2992]

Great insight as always, Kyle. I must say every time I watch a video that has volcanos and earthquakes, it scares me to no end🙂

[@mitchell.9632]

The cool thing to warm up on is that it can be used both for heating and cooling like the slide had on briefly. A lot of it is very local to your soil on conductivity if any area is good or not for it. Even areas where your map where minimal tier *the light yellow( it works good depending on the conductivity.

[@timothyball3144]

Way to tackle a HOT button topic.😂

[@kendebusk2540]

Good video, and I love the T-shirt which is right on topic :)

[@papasquatofficial9282]

Great video Kyle!

[@mauvaz2530]

I don't know but I always enjoyed the following cold close after the "signing out" thing. Love the content as always

[@georgefrench6876]

I have neighbors here in Buffalo that had a geothermal unit installed on their property. Do you envision a time where geothermal or even wind power is more widespread on a per residential basis?

[@GeographyKing]

I think geothermal and wind will become much more standard as time goes on. I just saw an article a few days ago about a new type of wind turbine that looked more like an oil derrick that was more efficient than a blade one. And the news about northern Nevada lithium deposits is very recent. Technological improvements can come quickly and change a lot.

[@scottselliers1672]

I wholeheartedly agree that geothermal will become a big part of our energy future - thank you for sharing a geography-focused view of this topic! I also feel as though nuclear is necessary in the interim transitional period as fossil fuels become too hard to acquire at scale. In time, I feel as though we will see wind and solar as being practical for only smaller-scale "off-grid" applications, favoring larger gravity-based kinetic storage systems and geothermal as sustainable sources for our energy grids. I highly recommend the book Terra Nova by Eric Sanderson for discussions on the use of coastal reservoirs for sustainable hydroelectric power generation.

[@johnl5316]

a g00d source of info: Energy Facts Chats with Mike Umbro and JP Warren

[@mathiasmueller9693]

Awesome shirt!

[@sarge420]

I was TDY to Iceland in Nov-Dec 2002. Went 2-3x a week to the Blue Lagoon. They run the pipes under the roads to help keep clear during winter. Did 4 tours to Turkey 🇹🇷.

[@bhg123ful]

In California, all the hot springs are located along faults. The giant subterranean crack is where that heated ground can rise to the surface.

[@funchable212]

Kingly video

[@rogerpenske2411]

Love the T-shirt buddy

[@michaelzwilling3278]

Outstanding. I was at one in the USA. I not sure where it was, it was back in the 1970’s.

[@Sydeshow123]

Another great shirt!

[@Traderbear]

Very interesting video. I’ve thought about a heat pump for the house in the PNW but it seems too expensive to recoup the costs

[@kosjeyr]

A little stunned you didn't mention Hot Springs, SD.

[@crabring]

Elon bezos lol I appreciated how you made this more understandable. I learned something!

[@yodorob]

Sounds like a portmanteau of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, two of the world's richest people.

[@hartc17]

This is a coincidence with tonight’s final jeopardy!

[@pat8988]

That map at :38 sure missed a lot of active volcanoes. Three that I see just at a glance are Long Valley and Salton Buttes and of course, Yellowstone.

[@christophejergales7852]

Love the shirt.

[@MyronWillson]

great video, but please learn the difference between “geothermal” (using heat to power turbines etc) and “groundsource” (using the latent energy of 50°-ish soils to help transfer heat via heat pump technology). Also, look at DOE research called FORGE, to use drilling techniques learned from fracking to tap into deep heat regardless of geography. Lots more information available

[@samwill7259]

Now matter what it is, if its renewable and sustainable, its better than what we've got now and we could do it tomorrow if we wanted to

[@andygoerdel894]

Most sources I found indicate that Hydropower is the largest % of Iceland's power production.

[@yodorob]

In my opinion, and as a compromise between those like myself who don't think that there's a fossil fuel-driven "climate crisis" (and who don't believe in wind and solar as viable large-scale alternatives to coal/oil/gas) and those who do believe that there is such a "climate crisis" (and want the power systems to wean themselves off of fossil fuels), geothermal - along with nuclear power (fusion even more than fission) and perhaps smaller-scale hydroelectricity - is the way to go. No matter how expensive up-front geothermal is, and no matter that nuclear fission is vulnerable to infrequent but high-impact meltdowns and has waste issues. (Personal disclosure: I myself live in a province, Quebec, that is almost entirely dependent on large-scale hydroelectricity for power. So much so that "hydro" is a shorthand for electricity in general.)

[@RobShutt357]

I have Geothermal HVAC for my home. It’s not powered by Geothermal, it’s just made more efficient than a standard unit. It’s powered by electricity.

[@DougGrinbergs]

4:36 sorry to learn of Colorado's geothermal potential even as Wel(le)d County is major fossil fuel extractor, polluter 😡 6:10 geothermal for large Brooklyn residential complex! 6:32 yeah, displace some West Virginia coal mining with geothermal!👍 7:00 Iceland

[@muenchhausenmusic]

That shirt tho!! 🤣

[@raymondmuench3266]

Wish you’d talked about geothermal in Italy which looked to be on par with Kenya. Che peccato.

[@tywright9164]

Alaska state profile please!

[@damonleeb]

A proper shirt for the video

[@michaelburt9839]

“Elon Bezos.” That was pretty funny.

[@ediartiva]

3:34 "So imagine if you're Elon Bezos" Whoopsie. Well, if they weren't such rivals, they could team up.

[@ming3.14]

The fact is: Geothermal energy is intrinsically limited, and unrenewable. It is the earth life line of the earth. Geothermal energy exploitation cannot solve our survival problem but only temporarily prolong our miserable lifestyle but will make sure our early extinction.

[@mjoelnir1899]

If the size of investment is a deterrent, why did anybody ever go for nuclear? About three times higher investment for nuclear by kW than geothermal.

[@rogerpenske2411]

Also, in 15 to 20 years wind and solar equipment is toast

[@ItsEverythingElse]

Geothermal is cool but the amount of solar coming online dwarfs it.

[@dmike3507]

Seems like the government needs to finance this like they do nuclear energy. You can't depend on private investment to do the right thing, most of the time.

[@davidsquall351]

Government does Everything wrong!

[@danielevillegas]

got a very weird image of Musk marrying Bezos 💀

[@warriorson7979]

😟 I always thought Wyoming was just a made up place like Narnia or Hogwarts....🤔😒

[@rexpresto]

Dibozo’s words don’t matter. The only thing he and the rest of the junta over there now is go out of their way to bring in some real additions to the lineup-no Tommy La Stellas. No AJ Pollocks-and win. And when they don’t, and the team goes 75-87 next season, he and Servais will have to be let go…Even Stanton won’t be able to stand such a PR nightmare.

[@geoffmccoll4640]

Only Donald Trump could understand this shit in 2025? From Australian post code NSW 2371