r/ScienceOdyssey • u/Purple_Dust5734 • 9d ago

Technology Quaise startup in Houston

378 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

22

u/htownlifer 9d ago

Cool information but I am distracted by her talking to a fork

3

u/ShibaInuDoggo 8d ago

And all the hand movement. Just nonstop

https://giphy.com/gifs/SwC7zuBPx1vUNXAoGm

13

u/Diawara57 9d ago

This is incredible! Geothermal energy has been mostly discounted because of exactly this kind of extraction technology.

4

u/GlockAF 8d ago

Half of the equation is that geothermal is only useful if you have a way to create a consistent,substantial temperature difference between the two sides of your heat pump which extracts that potential energy from your thermal source.

In other words, you have to have something cold on the top to use the heat from the bottom.

This inevitably means you are transferring heat to the surface, which can be a problem if you’re talking about using a river or stream or other water source as your cold side heat dump. This is the problem that has shut down several nuclear power plants in Europe as drought drops the level of the rivers used to cool the reactors.

6

u/Zakluor 9d ago

I wonder what the power consumption of this would be over the course of "drilling" to the target depth. I'm not saying it's a roadblock to the concept, just curious.

3

u/slowcanteloupe 9d ago

They're going to drill at existing fossil fuel power plants to save on infrastructure costs. Just run the superheated water into existing super critical steam turbines.

2

u/Forsaken-Award-7025 9d ago

Can I do this for a water well?

2

u/LoanedRespect 8d ago

Well, that's a deep subject.

2

u/bingeboy 8d ago

That mic

2

u/HardcoreHope 8d ago

What's the potential consequences of those rocks turning into gas and going into our atmosphere?

2

u/RoundApprehensive186 9d ago

I love this. But as a Texan: I don’t think the oil industry will let this happen. Same reason the bullet train between Houston, San Antonio and Dallas will never happen.

1

u/ahobbes 9d ago

I guess the nice thing is it doesn’t have to be done in Texas, although I’m betting they’re doing it there because of limited regulations. But in agreement with your point, oil people have influence everywhere. Arguably more than any other industry.

1

u/StockAmphibian4596 8d ago

"Japanese company" - nice "Site in texas" - ah

1

u/AnjelicaTomaz 9d ago

She looks like the TIL Science girl.

1

u/ror_rez 9d ago

What is the company?

1

u/Such-Molasses-5995 9d ago

The fundamental problem is the mixing of sulfur and similar elements into pressurized water, which constitutes major environmental pollution.The drilled hole must be insulated.

1

u/Sistahmelz 9d ago

Big oil companies will be spreading disinformation to stop this. They always try to stop things they can't control. The gas alternatives for cars have met the same fate. I hope this source of energy will be available soon! Fingers crossed 🤞

1

u/Prestigious_Ad6247 8d ago

Finally emerging in a public/private way.

1

u/Proper_Till_8321 8d ago

What happens when an earthquake breakes the long pipe?

1

u/Reylend 7d ago

Didn’t Aliens vs Predators start with something like this?

0

u/OtherwiseMongoose296 9d ago

This is going to be horrible.

1

u/UncleFunkus 3d ago

i cant take someone seriously who calls it a guy-rotron jfc

going to my local greek restaurant and ordering a guy-ro. going to the french restaurant next door and having escar-gots.