Climate change/global warming - the geothermal solution
Created | Updated Jul 18, 2009
Plugging into the planet - literally!
Could geothermal energy be the best long-term answer to climate change?
Just as we now have the world-wide-web, a huge network of linked computers around the globe, so it might be possible to construct a world-wide-web of power. The nodes of the power web would be special locations chosen for their geological suitability. By selecting sites where the Earth's crust is particularly thin, it would be possible to use nuclear explosives (modified nuclear warheads) to blast cavities within the crust such that the cavities would fill with magma from layers below. It can be shown that the thermal energy of magma inside a full cavity of volume 1 cubic km would be sufficient to provide power at first world levels to a population of several billion people for decades. With about 30 such cavities operating simultaneously, around the world, it would be possible to power the planet, at present power consumption, for at least 1000 years.
In this way, good use could be made of the nuclear stock-piles of the US and Russia. However, for safety reasons it would be best to use fusion devices which release far fewer long-lived radio-nuclides than fission devices. This method has been used in Russia to make artificial lakes in which it is safe to swim.
Could geothermal energy be the best long-term answer to climate change?
Just as we now have the world-wide-web, a huge network of linked computers around the globe, so it might be possible to construct a world-wide-web of power. The nodes of the power web would be special locations chosen for their geological suitability. By selecting sites where the Earth's crust is particularly thin, it would be possible to use nuclear explosives (modified nuclear warheads) to blast cavities within the crust such that the cavities would fill with magma from layers below. It can be shown that the thermal energy of magma inside a full cavity of volume 1 cubic km would be sufficient to provide power at first world levels to a population of several billion people for decades. With about 30 such cavities operating simultaneously, around the world, it would be possible to power the planet, at present power consumption, for at least 1000 years.
In this way, good use could be made of the nuclear stock-piles of the US and Russia. However, for safety reasons it would be best to use fusion devices which release far fewer long-lived radio-nuclides than fission devices. This method has been used in Russia to make artificial lakes in which it is safe to swim.
