[at-l] Geothermal Energy Way Off Topic

[jbullar1 at twcny.rr.com (Jim Bullard)]

At 11:19 AM 12/20/2005 -0500, greyowl@rcn.com wrote:
>Well maybe.  The ground temperature varies on location, but
>for most cases it is a lot cooler 6 to 10 feet under ground and it
>is possible to use the cold soil as a heat sink.  Problem is some
>soils warm up faster than others (water content) and there is
>also a potential of raising the soil temperature if too much heat
>is pumped through it.  This could have catastropic
>consequences on the soil microorganism
>
>Heat can be pumped out of the ground, but one must dig a hole
>much deeper in the ground.  There are places in the United
>States (other than the national parks) where it would be
>possible to pump water in the ground and the volcanic heat
>would conver it to steam.  Iceland uses this method to generate
>electricity.
>
>Grey Owl

Well, here in the frozen North next to the Quebec border the temperature 
well water is 55? and there is an outfit in Ontario (West of here) that 
sells systems to heat homes based on extracting heat from well water. Their 
system is based on 2 wells. You draw from one, extract the heat using a 
heat pump, and pump into the other. In the process of flowing back to 1st 
well through the ground it rewarms the water to 55?. I've never seen 
cost/unit of heat figures to see how it compares with oil or gas but it has 
to be more affordable than electric baseboard heaters. OTOH drilling a 2nd 
well isn't cheap. The one I have is 66 feet deep.