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A NASA plan to stop a supervolcano from erupting would also be a source of geothermal energy:
Beneath Yellowstone National Park is a giant volcano. The heat from this volcano powers all of the park's famous geysers and hot springs, so most tourists probably don't worry about having tons of hot magma under their feet. But perhaps they should: The Yellowstone supervolcano is a disaster waiting to happen.
The supervolcano erupts about every 600,000 years, and it's been about that long since the last eruption. That means the volcano could erupt any day now, and if it does it'll send enough dust and ash into the sky to blot out the sun for years, along with blowing a 25-mile-wide crater in the western U.S. That's why a group of NASA scientists and engineers are developing a plan to prevent an eruption by stealing the volcano's heat.
[...] NASA's plan is to drill a hole into the side of the volcano and pump water through it. When the water comes back out, it'll be heated to over 600 degrees, slowly cooling the volcano. The team hopes that given enough time, this process will take enough heat from the volcano to prevent it from ever erupting.
As a bonus, the scientists are proposing to use the heated water as a source of geothermal energy, potentially powering the entire Yellowstone region with heat from the volcano that wants to destroy it. A geothermal generator could produce energy at around $0.10 per kWh, competitive with other energy sources.
(Score: 3, Funny) by lx on Monday August 21 2017, @09:57AM (3 children)
Nothing to worry about.
They only want to tickle the dragon's tail a little.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday August 21 2017, @05:11PM (2 children)
Have you seen that balloon? It's a great balloon, but it's getting inflated very slowly, and maybe it will pop in the next 100000 years, and that will be bad.
Now, if I took that microscopic needle and carefully tried to bleed the balloon, what would happen?
(Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Monday August 21 2017, @11:34PM (1 child)
Your analogy would break down?
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday August 22 2017, @12:23AM
If I tried to make the analogy about drilling the lid of a pressure cooker, therefore affecting structural integrity of the thing containing the pressure, I'd get a cease-and-desist from Seb arguing that pressure cookers don't explode.
And going for the "geeze, will they remove the safety valves after a while, as in Porter Ranch" won't speak to many people.