The Underground Solution To Climate Change

[@ScopeofScience]

This turned out so well! Love it :)

[@zentouro]

thanks for your help!

[@Hussiens]

When I worked in geothermal communications, it was always impossible next to wind and solar to explain why it was such a great resource. I worked more in the energy part instead of the exchange, which is super good and should be a part of every conversation especially when building new properties. I think the more complicated engineering part on the energy plants is 1. The up front costs of it to drill and 2. the geographic difficulties. If you get good hot spots where seismic activity happens, it's a lot more of a sure thing to do, it's why you see states like Nevada and California be able to reap some rewards, or areas with volcanoes like Hawaii and Iceland can almost get all of their energy. It's possible in other areas, but last I've heard (and it's been quite a few years since I was ingesting geothermal news everyday) trying to place water underground has still been expensive and difficult to pull off. The frustrating thing is that it is similar to costs associated with drilling for oil which received HEAVY government subsidy when that industry started. It's also hard because there are instances from environmental groups like you alluded to that still oppose the activities needed to establish those power plants in the first place.

[@zentouro]

i didn't realize you used to work in geothermal communications! but yeah, the upfront cost for geothermal energy is really a huge hurdle to expansion - it almost falls into the same category as nuclear in that way, but then you've got the additional place-dependence that nuclear doesn't have to worry about. that being said - i think the tech innovations in geothermal energy seem to be moving a lot faster than all the fanciful nuclear fixes that are supposedly right around the corner.

[@bite027_ketansharma6]

It's not possible that your room is so clean at all times

[@zentouro]

i like things pretty tidy. i considered re-shooting this entire thing because one of my pillows was trying to escape its pillowcase and it bugged me the entire time i edited

[@ArunReformingenvironment]

Hii Iam from India Keep doing more videos About environmental We have to protect our world And me also started spreading awareness in my country 🎊 congrats

[@annabeth8376]

You are very good at explaining things, and your videos are criminally underrated! Very well-crafted :) Hope you're staying safe! :)

[@KatrinaEames]

I'll happily contact my reps about investing in geothermal energy

[@zentouro]

heck yeah!

[@l0gic23]

Did you do it Katrina? How has it worked out for you?

[@KatrinaEames]

@@l0gic23 I don't remember the specifics of these calls, but honestly most of my reps are pretty cool and their staffers are always friendly when I call. Some are more interested in investing in renewable energy than others.

[@Nicole_Noga]

I first learned about geothermal from watching This Old House years ago. Cool to see how it's becoming more well known. Now let's hope it also become more well utilized!

[@clockworkkirlia7475]

Fifty Fahrenheit? That's ten degrees Celsius, which I'm more than comfy with given a jumper and a cuppa, so this is something I'm intrigued to look into. I'm definitely an outlier there, even for a Scot, and I promise this isn't me showing off because I know there will be proper Canadians and Russians cold on my heels... but I feel like people forget that we're living biofuel generators on our own. We quite literally burn food to keep warm, just slowly because biology's friendly like that. As warm-blooded creatures sadly devoid of fur, we need to make sure that the heat we generate stays close to the skin, rather than wasting energy trying to heat a whole house by burning yet more hydrocarbons. Heaters are nice, but our world is nicer. Also, thank you so much for this video! I had no idea there was this whole other side to geothermal energy and I'm glad to have learned more about it! In retrospect it sounds obvious... I know that Scotland is taking green power as a point of national pride (casually shuffling Victorian Glasgow under the carpet) so I should definitely look that up. Also you and Darcy are absolutely adorable. Geo-warming my heart.

[@KatrinaEames]

Solidly on Team Darcy here. They're too cute to have to pay rent.

[@AlexDainisPhD]

This was very cool and I learned a lot but wait WHY were we drilling 12km down?? Where were we trying to go? What were we trying to do? I’m gonna need a whole video on that.

[@zentouro]

oh goodness the 12km-deep tangent hole i fell into while researching this video i could probably make that video... it was mostly cold war posturing though with a little bit of what are the rocks like way down there however, this art piece/recording is mesmerizing: vimeo.com/80266870

[@AlexDainisPhD]

@@zentouro Woah. That's one of those things that makes me remember we're actually just hurtling through space on a giant rock. A noisy giant rock.

[@clockworkkirlia7475]

Relevant Funny: xkcd.com/1330/

[@richardlangley90]

I had a GSHP with horizontal loop installed 10 years ago. I can only speak for my own situation but the reality is that it will never financially pay for itself. That does not mean I regret the installation. There are a few things people should know before they jump into this heat (and cooling) technology. The heat pump itself must be very carefully sized to the building it will be installed in. Failing to size properly will result in poor performance (either too big or too small - same end result)...for some installations it can mean more operational cost than propane or oil. The sizing is based on heat loss calculations. If you have ever had a heating system installed where the installation company did a heat loss calculation then you are in the minority. If the calculation was done properly and then applied properly to the actual heat pump selection then you are exceptionally lucky. Once the heat pump has been selected then the loop needs to be designed to match. Not only does it need to be the right size for the heating/cooling load but the ground it will be installed in needs to be taken into consideration. If you have had a system installed and the loop was properly designed and installed then you found a good installer. One other thing. If you are going the GSHP route then you absolutely need to go all out on insulation, sealing, windows and doors before you start. If you improve the efficiency of your house after the GSHP is installed then you will end up with a system that is too large and therefore inefficient. Oh one more thing...if the government is offering incentives then every tom dick and harry will be out there claiming to be experts....those same experts will close their business and open a new one the day the incentives end....and the odds are very high you will not have an efficient system in your home, if it even works at all. Research before you buy so that you know what to look for . There are literally dozens if not hundreds of people who are not happy with their GSHP installations. I happen to be one of the happy ones, but then again I do all my own repairs and diagnostics. Would I do it again? I would look very closely at an air to air or air to water heat pump as these have improved in efficiency dramatically, they are many times cheaper, they can be more cost effectively upgraded if you add an extension to your home down the road....they were not a contender 10 years ago but they are now....search for mini-splits.

[@danwylie-sears1134]

One of the big points about electrical heating and cooling is that it can be schedulable. It's effectively a form of storage for electricity: you can run your AC when supply is high and demand is low, and if your heater is essentially an AC running backward, you can do the same with that. That has the potential to make a substantial difference in how easy it is to get to near-100% renewables.

[@AphidKirby]

Fantastic video!! This is such an under-discussed topic! I'm really glad it gets covered like this

[@zentouro]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@jimmysgameclips]

I remember a good anecdote from Reddit where someone mentioned working from home doesn't have the carbon offset you would hope for if you're using heating or aircon anyway

[@ClimateAdam]

Yay! The hot new* energy source no-one is talking about! *not actually new

[@andrewsutton6640]

The title made me think of a video I saw where dwellings were made out of old mines in Australia for the constant temperature.

[@VladVexler]

Soooooooooooooooooo useful and important to get this out there. Thank you!

[@stumckhall]

Glad you referenced Drawdown, such a good reference

[@keithoshields2434]

Thank you for the video!

[@bobturing]

Your videos are great, but they hurt my soul. Just imagining the manual rotoscoping that would go into the text floating behind your head makes me cringe. I'm impressed.

[@zentouro]

sometimes i procrastinate finishing a video by adding extremely unnecessary graphics if anyone is curious why my upload schedule doesn't exist :P

[@ianrbuck]

Your dad sounds like a fun guy!

[@zentouro]

shhh don't tell him that

[@klokoloko2114]

Now your next level is Seasonal thermal energy storage

[@Miss_Lexisaurus]

oooh this was super useful and interesting. Thank you

[@BdR76]

3:11 "geothermal is a renewable source of power" Maybe a stupid question, but technically speaking isn't the heat at the earth's core finite? I mean wouldn't tapping heat like that on large scale eventually cool down the earth's core, with potential side effects?

[@staviwavi222]

Great video!

[@xtineliu]

This was so informative! I had no idea how many places were already using this technology. If I ever get to build my dream house, I'll use geothermal! Now I'm wondering if I could cook with geothermal energy too...you did say it was as hot as an oven hahah!!

[@thomasgregory915]

You had me at "wicked expensive".

[@user-en8ut8rb6z]

Hey! Are you friends with Nancy from Nancypi? I saw that you edited one of her videos in her description xD. Been subsribed to you both for ages and I just noticed that. What a coincidence! 😅

[@zentouro]

Yes! Nancy is great.

[@JeremySmith-wc4lh]

loving the more frequent uploads

[@michaelbyrd7883]

You've got miles of knowledge and ideas about geothermal, thanks so much for sharing it with me. However, I can't share what you just taught me cause my apartment neighbors aren't the want to meet you "how ya doing types" and my friends still think climate change i.e. warming is not man made or they don't worry about it. Believe me I do!

[@ItsRadishTime]

darcy you gotta pull your own weight around here

[@emack76]

Thank you for suggesting something that IS NOT solar or wind.

[@noorjehankhan2347]

Climatic changes has always occured prior to humans,most planets where no human/ animals exists,has undergone changes. However,pollution's ,destroying animals habitats killing of animals,decimation of the rain forest etc,plays a part to changes.

[@eyeballboob]

Thank you for the info. It's like well, you build houses with a bunch of pipes under them anyways, right? Why not put in a geothermal system? I don't own anything so I have no say on where I live, but...I am trying to get into sustainability.

[@97LifeMelody]

I feel like I am gonna be like her dad with my children.

[@grumpycheerleader]

I really appreciate this video, thank you for educating me. I’m curious if this would be more expensive in high elevation areas where I presume the drilling would have to go deeper. Forgive my bad geology knowledge but I don’t know if that’s the case. We live in a subdivision in Colorado so HOA would probably be an obstacle, but looking to build our own home in the future. Geo-thermal +solar panels for electricity sounds very interesting right now!

[@zentouro]

can't speak to your HOA, but i don't think the elevation in colorado makes much difference for the below ground temperatures. a lot of places will offer free quotes - so it is probably worth calling around/seeing what options are available in your area.

[@grumpycheerleader]

Thank you

[@chloegrobler4275]

i dont know much about the industries involved but it sounded to me like geothermal installation and maintanance might be the natural solution for all the skilled miners the world already has. since they lose their jobs in the coal mining industry they could naturally shift over to geothermal. i hope its that simple...

[@mggmuggins]

Watched this last night and have come up with something to say :P It seems like this is a good argument (among other things) for trying to cooperate with some fossil fuel companies/industry areas in tackling climate change, since as you point out, a lot of the expertise when it comes to drilling is located in those industries. It also seems to me like most people work in the fossil fuel industry because it makes money, not because they love it, so my guess is that there'd be plenty of internal support in a lot of drilling companies for doing more geothermal as opposed to natural gas. It doesn't pay well to be enemies with folks just because they contribute to the problem.

[@zentouro]

yeah that is an interesting point. but obviously complicated! especially when oil companies have a history of using geothermal to pretend they are greener than they are.

[@peterrowe6055]

Geothermal energy not a solution for anyone living in Canada. For countries like Iceland it makes sense. It just cannot replace nuclear or fossil fuel. And do not believe for a minute that anything comes for free. Not even wind and solar come for free. We are just starting to realize the true cost of renewables.

[@ChitranjanBaghiofficial]

A home which has insulation to keep it warm or cold makes it even more efficent. that way one needs less fuel or electricity to heat or cool the home.

[@zentouro]

true, weatherizing is always a good plan regardless

[@neelroy2918]

Just one quick thought: of course you should talk to your reps but we should not wait for them to incentivize anything. Would be too late by then.

[@DanKeeley]

Most definitely a stupid question, is there any side effects to removing heat from the centre of the earth? Obvs itll run out at some point too

[@Azoryo]

"Renewable" is a funky word and I'm cautious with it around geothermal similar to the way I am around nuclear (minus the obvious waste problem). The amount of energy in earths core is vast (like unbelievably vast) but it's not _really_ endless - setting aside that we can't really do anything to keep the "endless" sun going past it's expiration date either. Since the heat in our core is in parts from the planets formation and from ongoing radioactive decay, and not tied to the sun in any significant way it's basically a separate system. It will likely outlast the sun but if we really tried hard enough we could theoretically screw our planet over much like we did by mindlessly drilling for coal and oil, just worse. Now it's _unlikely_ but this _definitely_ wouldn't happen with photovoltaic, wind or hydro. I think it's funny that "renewable" has such a fuzzy definition. I'm a huge fan of geothermal but we need to be careful not to oversell things we support.

[@matthewbarker5950]

I like your video. I am curious to learn about how applicable Geothermal Exchange could be for colder climates. For example, where I live during the winter months we usually experience below minus 40 degrees centigrade with a wind chill nearing minus 50 (again Celsius). Although these extreme temperatures are happening less frequently each year. Do you know of any sources where Geothermal systems have been tested, and I can review their parametres? Thanks!

[@zentouro]

if you're curious about applications in your own locality--probably best to reach out to geothermal installers working in your area. they'll definitely know more about the practicality/effectiveness where you live. however, in general, geothermal heat pumps are most effective in colder climates because there is such a large difference between the outside air and the below-ground temperature. feel free to check out the sources linked in the video description for more information.

[@ReadingDave]

Underground homes are the passive geothermal.

[@KarolaTea]

Same expertise as oil and gas? Awesome! Shut down oil and gas, we have jobs for all those workers! (well... not quite, but yanno) My neighbours built their house with a geothermal exchange system. I remember they apparently always had to keep all the doors open for it to work properly... do you know anything about that? Is that just one particular kind of technology or does that affect all of the systems? Cause in that case it'd seem not very practical for apartment buildings... But since you mentioned larger commercial structures as well I guess that's not the case anyway? Actually genuinely... my parents are looking for a replacement for their boiler atm. They've asked me what'd be the best, so far, I've said no clue, probably gas (cause you can get gas generated by exess wind energy over here). But I might just suggest geothermal to them. Thank you very much for this video!!! Always love learning about sustainable technology! :D

[@zentouro]

oh weird, i think there must have been something funky going on with their system, because you certainly shouldn't have to keep your doors and windows open all the time. it might be worth looking into, although I wouldn't recommend working with whoever installed your neighbor's system....

[@KarolaTea]

I did a wee bit of googling, and I'm thinking that maybe they're not using a geothermal system after all, but an air-air heat pump. Some article mentioned that that system works via ventilation, not radiators, and they definitely didn't have any of those. Or maybe it was just the parents' excuse the keep their kids' door open to know what they're doing haha.

[@veesaos8316]

it seems that geoexchange system relies on the differences in temperature in the summer and winter -how about geoexchange in tropical areas?

[@zentouro]

the system relies on the difference in temperature between the subsurface and the air. so in tropical regions, a few feet below ground will be much cooler than the air temperature, that difference is what allows the system to cool a building. basically all year round in tropical regions would be how the system would work in the summer of a temperate region. in temperate regions, that difference in temperature is relevant seasonally bc it can heat in the winter and cool in the summer.

[@veesaos8316]

@@zentouro thanks so much for answering, now i can quit procrastinating on my assignment lol. lots of love 💕

[@nicholaspalmer2220]

When you referred to an 'an outside air compressor' were you referring to an air source heat pump? Because those are not that less efficient at 'multiplying' the electricity used to run them than ground source heat pumps (aka domestic geothermal) and one doesn't have to dig a huge hole or drill down deep.

[@zentouro]

air source heat pumps are definitely less efficient than geothermal heat pumps. according to the DOE - geothermal heat pump systems can reduce electricity consumption 25-50% compared to air source heat pumps. geothermal heat pump systems normally operate upwards of 300 and up to 600% efficiency.

[@nicholaspalmer2220]

@@zentouro Daikins, Mitsubishi, Hitachi airsource pumps get over 500% COP

[@zentouro]

i mean if you want to talk specific brands, daikin literally advertises their ground source heat pumps as the most efficient heating and cooling technology www.daikin.eu/en_us/product-group/ground-source-heat-pump.html

[@nicholaspalmer2220]

@@zentouro I didn't deny that ground source gives more heat per kwh, but they're more expensive and the groundworks are quite massive for horizontal absorbing coils or expensive for vertical drilling. If you're trying to big up heat pumps as a 'forgotten' solution then, to make a difference they have to be the most likely to be adopted en masse by the public. A friend of mine installed a vertical shaft heat pump 10 years ago, so I'm familiar with them.

[@zentouro]

glad you're familiar, but i was responding to your original comment that stated air source heat pumps were more *efficient* than geothermal systems which simply isn't true. but you are correct there is significant additional work required to install a geothermal system (a thing i talk about in the video!). and that cost is a major barrier to installation (another thing i talk about in the video!), and ultimately i recommend folks speak with their representatives and community rather than install a new heating and cooling system in their homes.

[@langleytw]

Here's an 'interesting' development.... power companies in New South Wales, Australia are now going to be permitted to charge customers to feed power INTO the grid from their solar panels..... because it's inconvenient!

[@peterdollins3610]

All you have to do is find a heavy needle like rock to aim it--precisly with rocket drones--to plummet very fast to hole the earth at precise points so you don't need to drill or dig. Simple?

[@martintirpak1033]

you should have much more subs :)

[@zentouro]

workin on it. feel free to share the video on twitter/reddit/etc

[@rheannalake6974]

🌹

[@mik13ST]

Or maybe we could move some power hungry building underground so they stay at stable temperatures. Shopping malls for example. They don't have windows anyways. It would be expensive though.

[@raspberrylord9550]

Why can't we use insanely safe and efficient thorium fission nuclear power plants?

[@zentouro]

short answer: we could if someone figures out how to scale them from research to commercially viable long answer: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bZ3MiYdqiZ6LgKM

[@peterphillips4340]

I totally agree. Nuclear plants should have been built to replace fossil fuel decades ago. We may be too late now because we are locked in to the consequences but a push should be made to build modern nuclear power plants.

[@user-qn6ey9pb6j]

Can you make a video about nuclear energy it's not what people think; it's really the safest energy and most realiable with our current state.

[@zentouro]

i made a video about nuclear over on the Hot Mess PBS channel you can check out: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bZ3MiYdqiZ6LgKM&

[@SlightlyPwnish]

First let me just say, and I'm sure you get this all the time, that you are super cute and I like your nerdiness, would probz switch between geeking out about anime and new world changing technologies while sipping overpriced lattes. Secondly, thank you for existing, just in general.

[@bite027_ketansharma6]

#MakeDogsPayRent

[@harshtiwari4545]

I really think nuclear energy is the way to go. It's waay safer than what it used to be.

[@benholland2989]

You don't mention overshoot, degrowth and a complete change of our socio-economic and value system as necessary part of the solution. So the vid is a fail when "solution" is in the title.

[@takumisoyama9792]

解決策解決策というばかりで解決 できるものはない。解決できるのは排気をアイドリングから吸収相殺無臭化する史上初のSoyama turbineが最適である。この動画も言うだけで無駄である。