John Hanno response to: http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/energy/blogs/iceland-taps-into-underground-river-magma-geothermal
October 26, 2016
The first thing I think of when I hear of someone drilling deep into the earth, is how many holes can we drill before we blow the whole dam world apart. It’s not like that saying when we were kids, “if you dig down deep enough, you’ll get to China.” I picture the earth being attacked from every angle, drilled left and right, on an angle and horizontally, by oil wells, fracking wells, gas wells, deep wells drilled below the bottom of the oceans, and now by someone thinking it’s a good idea to drill into the magma core of the earth and drilling into “tectonically-active regions,” which as we know are prone to earthquakes. I mean, we know what happens when one of the world’s sleeping giants we call volcanoes decides to let off steam and magma. I’m not an expert geologist or scientist but I’m a bit skeptical. I construct buildings and understand the importance of a solid foundation. I would never drill into a foundation of anything because it’s only a matter of time before the dam building will come crashing down. We have to think long and hard before we do something that isn’t reversible. I think wind and solar are better alternatives.
Depending on who’s opinion you use; “Sunlight striking Earth’s surface in just one hour, delivers enough energy to power the world’s economy for an entire year.” or “In 14 and a half seconds, the sun provides as much energy to Earth as humanity uses in a day.” or There’s enough wind energy potential within the corridor from Texas up through Illinois to power the entire nation, if only the electrical power grid infrastructure were in place. Europe is already all in, in developing off shore wind.
Our energy department has invested in tidal research but we haven’t scratched the surface of that energy potential. Although our U.S government and military have put more than $330 million into marine energy research over the past decade, Britain and Europe have invested more than $1 billion. We need to do better. The DOE believes 20 to 30 % of America’s energy could come from wave energy. They just announced our first wave generated energy went online this week in Hawaii. The power travels by undersea cable to a military base, where it feeds into Oahu’s power grid. America’s first off shore wind farm came online recently and will produce enough power for 17,000 homes.
The main problem we have with energy today is not the solutions, it’s the political will. The will to put the enormous amount spent, drilling the earth apart and blanketing the globe in leaking pipelines, into proven alternative sustainable energy. Too many in our Congress (Republicans) are beholden to fossil fuel. Complacent lackeys who have, shirked their duty to craft comprehensive energy legislation favoring alt energy, by supporting companies trying to extract every once of fossil fuel asset before it becomes obsolete. Vote on November 8th for the environment. John Hanno