Pickens Meets Obama
Image credit:Cleveland, Real-Time News from Around the Nation
By: Jonathan G. Dorn, Staff Researcher at the Earth Policy Institute, where he works on energy issues.
With the dramatic increase in oil prices earlier this year translating into higher prices at the gas pump in the United States, concerns over U.S. dependence on foreign oil are once again part of the national discussion on energy security.
Gen Coel neighborhood of Heerlen, Image credit: France24, Remko Scheepens
We recently published a post about a mine heat project just beginning. (See:- Yellowknife To Re-Purpose Gold Mine For Heat Extraction.) Like, wind mills, it turns out, Holland is already on top of this idea,using it as a basis for community redevelopment.
"The "Mine Water Project" in the south-western Limburg province went into operation last month, heating some 350 homes and businesses in a newly built neighbourhood in Heerlen (pictured)."...
The investment will go toward so-called Enhanced Geothermal Systems. Whereas conventional geothermal technology relies on finding naturally occurring pockets of steam and hot water in the ground, EGS works by injecting regular unheated water into “hot basement rock” deep below the planet’s surface. This heated water is the forced through and rises to the surface where it can be mined for all its hot water glory (remember: heat is an untapped source of stored energy!)
The US Department of Energy likes the potential of EGS:
XXS Next House is 150 sq. ft. with kitchen. Cost: $21,500 (you assemble)
On first glance the slick web site for Next House, a Swedish prefab designer, is just a tad too glossy. Photos of the prefab houses are gorgeous, to be sure, but they are shot so you'll notice the house's integration with nature - and forget perhaps the fact that in these particular homes you'd be car dependent for every other thing you do besides sit at home.
Noting Hawaii’s vulnerability to interruptions in their supply chain as the world’s most remote island chain, the first annual Blue Planet Summit took place last weekend in an effort to focus the energy of Hawaii, both natural and social, on the urgency of ending our dependence on oil and a push towards clean renewable energy.
Of course, what some may view as vulnerability may actually turn out to be its greatest strength. With the very isolation of the Hawaiian Islands making them an ideal laboratory for developing and evaluating the success of various renewable energy technologies like wave, wind, solar and geothermal power.
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