Tumgik
#Solar Water Heating System Installation
jupitersolar · 1 year
Text
Solar Water Heater Installation: Tips and Tricks
Solar Water Heater Installation: Tips and Tricks
Solar Water Heater Installation Tips and Tricks to Know, solar water heaters work as their name suggest. It collects heat from the sun and stores it until it can be utilized during the cold winter months. Solar water heaters are a great investment in a home with poor weather. It will help save a lot of energy, cut down on your electric bill, and prevent greenhouse gases.
There are many types of solar water heaters. There are heaters that are used on small scale systems. These can be installed on your rooftop. You can then use this collected heat to heat your home through a network of pipes.
There are also heaters that are installed in a water taken from well. These water heaters are connected to a well in the ground. It’s a great idea for a lot of homeowners since they don’t have to look for a spot in the ground to put the system. They can simply use the solar panel for their needs.Buy solar water heater from Jupiter Solar www.jupitersolars.in .
When buying a solar water heater, you will need to consider a few things. You should ensure that you can install the system that you want to use, and that it fits your requirements.
Solar Heating System
With the solar water heater, you will be able to heat water without any form of pollution or greenhouse gases. Because it uses the energy of the sun to heat the water, you will be able to ensure that the water is well heated by solar hot water systems. This ensures that you don’t need to invest in a whole range of filters in your home to ensure that your water is safe.
If you have a tank, you need to ensure that it can easily take a maximum of some gallons of water. You can get an installation kit, which includes a collector, heating units, valves and pipes. The pipes can vary from stainless steel, PVC . You should also ensure that the pipes are compatible with each other, and are of the same size.
You can choose to use a solar heater in your home or for the backyard. The collector needs to be able to hold up to some gallons of water. To be efficient, the system will need to absorb a minimum watts per square foot. If it’s not able to absorb this, it won’t be able to offer sufficient heat.Jupiter Solar www.jupitersolars.in provides the best solar powered water heaters.
The water will need to be heated to a minimum of some degrees Fahrenheit for hours of heating. If the temperature of the tank drops to below this level, it will start losing heat. At that time, you should be able to add more heat to your system. You should also ensure that the temperature in the tank is able to reach a minimum degrees Fahrenheit.
A tank that has a diameter of inches and going to be able to hold up to the maximum gallons of water. It’s going to be able to heat a maximum of some square feet, if you install the system correctly. A tank that is inches in diameter will be able to heat a maximum of square feet. Buy best solar water heating systems at Jupiter Solar www.jupitersolars.in .
If you have a tank with a depth of a minimum of eight feet, you will be able to ensure that you have a good amount of water available for you to use.
Storage Tanks
There are a number of people who have solar heating systems in their homes. With the tank, it will be able to hold the required volume of water. It’s going to have two inlet pipes, which you should connect to the two ends of the tank. You should also ensure that you have a lid and a drain for the water.
The solar tank is going to be able to heat the water, and ensure that it doesn’t heat up the pipes and the storage tank as well.Jupiter Solar www.jupitersolars.in has a good solar water heater efficiency.
Solar Water Heating System Installation
For solar water heater installation costs, contact Jupiter Solar www.jupitersolars.in. The solar water heater system will be able to heat a maximum of 100 litre to 500 litres of water. You will need to make sure that you choose the right type of pipes for your storage tank, based on its location.
Some homeowners are finding that a lot of times the pipes don’t reach far enough for water storage tanks that are installed. You will be able to find a system that has two to six hundred feet of pipe. If the tank is going to be in an outdoor environment, the pipes will have to be able to stand the weather. Solar water heater benefits are many .
You can also choose to use concrete pipes for your system. This will ensure that the water doesn’t go through any leaks. If you are trying to ensure that the solar water heater does its job, you can make sure that you have this installed professionally.
You can install the system in a garage, or you can connect the system to your roof. You will be able to choose the size and type of collector that you want to use.
You can choose to use your existing shower as a hot water outlet. You can ensure that it doesn’t heat up your pipes or shower, as the system will heat up the water before it can flow through the pipes. Mostly solar water heater repair is very less .
The collector will be able to be installed in the ground, or you can choose to buy a kit, which will come with the solar water heater installation.
Solar Home Heating System – Benefits
You will be able to heat the water using energy from the sun. This is going to be a great option for a number of people who have limited energy. This can prevent you from the cutting down on your power bills.
You can choose a system that will help you save a lot of money. The most efficient solar water heaters are going to cost you a lot. You can also make sure that you are using the best system to get the most out of your system. Jupiter Solar www.jupitersolars.in , the solar water heater cost is very affordable price.
Solar water heating systems are going to be able to help you conserve water. They are able to be efficient at collecting energy from the sun. It’s going to ensure that you can use this heat to water your garden or to fill up your swimming pool.
The system is going to be able to do a lot for you in a short space of time. You will be able to use it for a minimum of four to five hours, which is amazing when you think about the amount of time it’s going to be saving.
You can also use the system to increase your home’s value. The solar water heating system is going to be able to reduce your electric bill. This is going to increase the value of your home. If you can heat your water using solar energy, you will be able to enjoy the benefits of solar energy. Solar water heater maintenance will be very minimum only.Buy solar water heater, contact Jupiter Solar www.jupitersolars.in .
2 notes · View notes
envirosunshinecoast · 2 years
Text
Reasons to Research Hot Water Systems in Sunshine Coast, Australia
When it comes to Solahart hot water systems Sunshine Coast, it is easy to become perplexed. We live in Australia, a country with a wide range of products, prices, and even geographic locations. Because of this, I wanted to provide you some advice on things to take into account while having a hot water system installed at your home or place of business.
Tumblr media
Hot water systems might help you relieve your daily stress. While relaxing in the shower, you can wash your dishes, clothes, and even shave comfortably.
When choosing a hot water system, there are a few things to keep in mind. How do you decide whether you first need one? If the existing hot water system in your home or place of business isn't working properly any longer or if you've decided that this is the year for an upgrade, it's time to think about replacing it.
The best way to ensure that your Sunshine Coast Solar Hot Water System Repairs will function for many years to come is to obtain quotes from several companies before making a decision. Ask a company about their cost when you first call, even if they don't give any free estimates, so you can determine if they are the best fit for your needs.
Tumblr media
Make sure every part of the hot water system is in good working order before making any purchases.
How then can you decide whether an upgrade is required? If your old hot water heater has been working flawlessly for years and then quits for no obvious reason, it might be time to acquire a new one. Your energy bills, water use, and maintenance expenses will decrease over time as a result of this. And let's face it, having warm water flowing freely throughout your entire house is the epitome of luxury!
To know more about hot water heater you can visit: https://envirosunsunshinecoast.com.au
3 notes · View notes
kasperelectric · 3 months
Text
6 Benefits of Solar Water Heating System in Palm Beach Gardens and Jupiter, FL
The energy consumed for heating water during those cold winter months can be a nasty surprise for modest homeowners. The statistics provided by the US Government organizations point to 18% of energy usage for heating water. The numbers are too large to be ignored, though. Trying to lower the costs is the only practical solution here. Trying to curtail the need to heat water does not work. Instead, switching to the solar water heating system in Palm Beach Gardens and Jupiter, FL is advisable to reduce the utility costs substantially.
Harnessing the power of the sun can be delightfully effective. Plus, one gets to enjoy a host of advantages along with it. The following are sure to make the user beam with delight:
1. Efficiency- Setting up solar panels is a cost-effective solution. The panels can convert 80% of the radiation into energy that is utilized for heating water as and when required. The efficacy is ensured when the panels are placed in direct sunlight. The rooftop, terrace, or flat surfaces on the ground are ideal sites for quick conversion into solar energy that may be used for heating vast quantities of water at a time.
2. Affordable Installation- Homeowners are often confused between installing PV and solar panels. Well, it is a great idea to sell power back to the grid and earn an incentive in the long run. The installation expenses will be reimbursed once the user obtains the money. The solar panel installation costs are strictly for a single time. The benefits will last a lifetime, making it highly cost-effective and useful for the consumer.
3. Space Saving- The solar panel can be installed within a limited space by mounting it on a lofty structure or setting it up on a frame. While using the rooftop or terrace is the best point for such installations, one may also consider alternatives on the ground without reducing the efficacy of heating.
4. Eco-Friendly- Individuals using a solar heating facility are reducing their carbon footprints considerably. Solar energy does not pollute any of the ground resources and is renewable energy that is environment-friendly. The user can thus contribute to future generations' well-being without trying too hard.
5. Low Maintenance- One does not have to be concerned about maintaining the solar heating system. The system only requires some basic cleaning with almost 0 repairs. There is no wear & tear either. Moreover, the panel/heater is supported by a long warranty period
6. Cost-Effective- The consumer enjoys power at a reduced cost by switching to solar energy. Apart from the usage of green energy and no power outages, many tax incentives are provided for solar power users, too.
One may also consider investing in a quality whole home solar installation in Palm Beach Gardens and Jupiter, FL, that takes care of the energy consumption completely. Going off the grid becomes possible within a short time, thus saving costs and entirely eliminating inconveniences.
0 notes
Text
Explore The Most Effective Solar Pool Heating System In Australia
Solar pool heating is one of the most useful ways to heat your pool. You can extend your swimming season by harnessing the sun's power for weeks or months. And, since solar energy is free once you've installed the system, it's a highly cost-effective way to heat your pool. There are two basic solar pool heating systems: active and passive. Dynamic systems have circulating pumps and controls circulating water through the solar collectors and then back into the pool. Passive systems rely on the natural circulation of water to move water through the system.
Solar Pool Heating System is generally very reliable and requires little maintenance. However, having your system inspected and serviced by a qualified solar contractor every few years is essential to ensure it operates at peak efficiency. If you're considering solar pool heating for your home, there are a few things to remember.
Tumblr media
First, solar pool heating systems work best in locations with a lot of sunlight. If your home is shady, you may need more sun to heat your pool effectively.
Second, solar pool heating systems are most effective with other pool heating methods, such as a gas or electric heater. Using multiple heating sources lets you maintain a comfortable pool temperature even on cooler days.
Solar pool heating systems can be more expensive than other pool heating options. However, the long-term savings on your energy bills can make solar pool heating a very cost-effective option.
If you are looking for an industry-leading supplier of solar pool heating, Affordable Solar has built a reputation for providing the highest quality equipment and superior customer service. Their products are easy to install and require no maintenance, ensuring you enjoy years of trouble-free operation. They offer various solar pool heating options, including the market's most efficient pool heating systems. And with their industry-leading warranties, you can be sure your system will perform as promised for years. If you're ready to start enjoying your pool year-round, contact them today at 0418 349 495. Their friendly and knowledgeable staff will happily answer any questions about their solar pool heating installation and help you find the right system for your home. 
Tumblr media
1 note · View note
reasonsforhope · 10 days
Text
"As solar panels heat up beyond 25°C, their efficiency decreases markedly. Green roofs moderate rooftop temperatures. So we wanted to find out: could green roofs help with the problem of heat reducing the output of solar panels?
Our research compared a “biosolar” green roof — one that combines a solar system with a green roof — and a comparable conventional roof with an equivalent solar system. We measured the impacts on biodiversity and solar output, as well as how the plants coped with having panels installed above them.
The green roof supported much more biodiversity, as one might expect. By reducing average maximum temperatures by about 8°C, it increased solar generation by as much as 107% during peak periods. And while some plant species outperformed others, the vegetation flourished.
These results show we don’t have to choose between a green roof or a solar roof: we can combine the two and reap double the rewards...
How did the panels affect the plants?
In the open areas, we observed minimal changes in the vegetation cover over the study period compared to the initial planted community.
Plant growth was fastest and healthiest in the areas immediately around the solar panels. Several species doubled in coverage. We selected fast-growing vegetation for this section to achieve full coverage of the green roof beds as soon as possible.
The vegetation changed the most in the areas directly below and surrounding the solar panels. The Baby Sun Rose, Aptenia cordifolia, emerged as the dominant plant. It occupied most of the space beneath and surrounding the solar panels, despite having been planted in relatively low densities.
This was surprising: it was not expected the plants would prefer the shaded areas under the panels to the open areas. This shows that shading by solar panels will not prevent the growth of full and healthy roof gardens.
Tumblr media
What were the biodiversity impacts?
We used environmental DNA (eDNA) surveys to compare biodiversity on the green roof and conventional roof. Water run-off samples were collected from both roofs and processed on site using portable citizen scientist eDNA sampling equipment to detect traces of DNA shed by the species on the roof.
The eDNA surveys detected a diverse range of species. These included some species (such as algae and fungi) that are not easily detected using other survey methods. The results confirmed the presence of bird species recorded by the cameras but also showed other visiting bird species went undetected by the cameras.
Overall, the green roof supported four times as many species of birds, over seven times as many arthropods such as insects, spiders and millipedes, and twice as many snail and slug species as the conventional roof. There was many times the diversity of microorganisms such as algae and fungi.
Encouragingly, the green roof attracted species unexpected in the city. They included blue-banded bees (Amegilla cingulata) and metallic shield bugs (Scutiphora pedicellata).
How did the green roof alter temperatures?
The green roof reduced surface temperatures by up to 9.63°C for the solar panels and 6.93°C for the roof surfaces. An 8°C reduction in average peak temperature on the green roof would result in substantial heating and cooling energy savings inside the building.
This lowering of temperatures increased the maximum output of the solar panels by 21-107%, depending on the month. Performance modelling indicates an extensive green roof in central Sydney can, on average, produce 4.5% more electricity at any given light level.
These results show we don’t have to choose between a green roof or a solar roof. We can combine them to take advantage of the many benefits of biosolar green roofs.
Biosolar roofs can help get cities to net zero
The next step is to design green roofs and their plantings specifically to enhance biodiversity. Green roofs and other green infrastructure may alter urban wildlife’s activities and could eventually attract non-urban species.
Our green roof also decreased stormwater runoff, removed a range of run-off pollutants and insulated the building from extremes of temperature. A relatively inexpensive system provides all of these services with moderate maintenance and, best of all, zero energy inputs.
Clearly, biosolar green roofs could make major contributions to net-zero cities. And all that’s needed is space that currently has no other use."
-via GoodGoodGood, May 12, 2024
950 notes · View notes
Text
Sungrow is Ranked No. 1 in 2021 Global PV Inverter Shipment by IHS Markit
The company has the largest dedicated R&D team in the industry, a wide range of products for utility-scale, commercial & industrial, and residential applications, as well as globally renowned floating PV plant solutions, NEV driving solutions, and EV charging station solutions. Sungrow products power installations in more than 150 countries and have a solid 25-year track record in the PV industry. visit my website www.sunlineenergy.com.au
1 note · View note
certifiedsolar · 2 years
Text
What Is The Best Solar Panel For Your Home?
There are many options available when choosing solar panels for your home. Some of the top manufacturers include Certified Solar, Maxeon, Trina Vertex, Q Cells, Suntech, and Enphase. Each has their strengths and weaknesses, so the right choice what is the best solar panel in Australia is dependent on your budget and your personal preferences.
Certified Solar
Certified Energy Solutions provides the ultimate photovoltaic solutions for any size installation, from residential rooftops to commercial buildings. Our innovative and efficient products aim to benefit you in energy savings by becoming a single supplier for all your components. Our expertise includes providing complete solutions from basic concepts to installations of solar projects. We have catered to multiple organizations in the past. With a continued working relationship with all of them, we pride ourselves on getting no significant complaints. We provide the highest standard services at highly competitive rates. We have successfully commissioned multiple on and off-grid solar installations with a performance of the highest quality. The equipment is well established and renowned, and installation, testing, and commissioning are done by the experts at Certified Energy Solutions, ensuring customer satisfaction and professional quality.
Maxeon
The Maxeon solar panel series from SunPower is a leader in residential solar panel technology. The Maxeon series features industry-leading cell power density and a 40-year warranty. However, the Maxeon solar panel is not cheap. While it may not be the most affordable option for home solar energy, it is undoubtedly the most effective one on the market.
The Maxeon 3 solar panel has a payback period of less than one year for a ground mounted module, and it takes only 0.13 to 0.45 years for an 8kW rooftop installation. The Maxeon solar panel is also eco-friendly, as it includes an ESG report outlining the company's efforts to reduce its environmental impact.
Trina Vertex
The Trina Vertex solar panel is a great option for rooftop solar installations in Australia. This module combines several innovative technologies into a single package. These include N-type PACO Cell technology, multi-busbar construction, and non-destructive cutting. It weighs only 21.5 kilograms and is ideal for Australian rooftops. It also comes with a 25-year product warranty and a 30-year power warranty.
The price of Trina solar panels varies depending on solar inverters and system size. Installation costs also play a large role in the total cost. You can get a general idea of how much each component will cost based on the size of your system. However, you should keep in mind that these prices are not based on site specifics.
Q Cells
The Q CELLS solar panel is one of the most advanced solar panels on the market. The company uses monocrystalline silicon to make panels that are extremely efficient and have exceptional build quality. This technology allows the panels to produce more electricity in the same space as panels that use more traditional technology. This technology also allows the panels to be as efficient as Tier 1 solar panels.
The company carries out extensive testing in the lab and in the field. Its internal quality testing programs go beyond the strict VDE standards, ensuring that only the highest-quality panels make it to production. In addition, the company backs its panels with solid warranties.
Suntech
Suntech is one of the leading manufacturers of solar panels in Australia. Their products have high module efficiencies and are suitable for coastal regions. Their panels also come with a performance and product warranty of up to 25 years. They have also gone through a stringent certification process devised by VDE, a giant German association. They were the third manufacturer in the world to go through this testing.
The Suntech solar panel is a top choice for many Australian homeowners. The company has over 2.3 million installed solar modules, which makes it one of the top brands in the country. The company has also conducted numerous R&D projects with Australian universities and has set efficiency records for its photovoltaic cells. It has also added German-made solar inverters to its Australian product line.
Certified Solar specializes in providing solar energy and energy storage system installations for commercial and residential projects. We transform our clients’ energy needs by helping them drastically reduce and eliminate their electricity bills, aiming for the maximum return on each investment.
0 notes
afeelgoodblog · 6 months
Text
The Best News of Last Week - November 28, 2023
🐑 - Why did Fiona the sheep become a mountaineer? She was tired of the "baa-d" jokes at sea level!
1. Pope Francis dines with transgender women for Vatican luncheon
Tumblr media
Pope Francis hosted a group of transgender women — many of whom are sex workers or migrants from Latin America — to a Vatican luncheon for the Catholic Church's "World Day of the Poor" last week.
The pontiff and the transgender women have formed a close relationship since the pope came to their aid during the COVID-19 pandemic, when they were unable to work. Now, they meet monthly for VIP visits with the pope and receive medicine, money and shampoo any day, according to The Associated Press.
2. New York just installed its first offshore wind turbine
Tumblr media
The first wind turbine installation at South Fork Wind, New York State’s first offshore wind farm, is complete.
The 130-megawatt (MW) South Fork Wind will be the US’s first completed utility-scale wind farm in federal waters.
3. Anonymous businessman donates $800k to struggling food bank
Tumblr media
But this Thanksgiving, a longtime prayer of food bank leaders was finally answered: an anonymous benefactor donated the full $800,000 they needed to move out of a facility they've long outgrown. That benefactor, however, preferred to stay anonymous.
"Very private company, really don't want attention," said Debbie Christian, executive director of the Auburn Food Bank. "It's a goodhearted person that just wants to see the work here continue, wants to see it expand."
4. Empowering woman saving hopes and mental health of suffering Ukrainian kids
Tumblr media
Kenza Hadij-Brahim is at the forefront of promoting Circle of Toys
Hadj-Brahim is helping to launch the Circle of Toys initiative. A project that provides Ukrainian children in need of some normality with preloved toys. This new initiative connects people with old toys they might otherwise throw away, with Ukrainian families in need who want to provide some comfort to their children in this distressing time.
Find Refuge said : “The endeavour is driven by a sincere purpose: spark joy, foster play, and bring a hint of normalcy back to the young lives in Ukraine.”
5. TWO LOST CITIES HIDDEN FOR CENTURIES WERE JUST DISCOVERED IN BOLIVIA
Tumblr media
Researchers have found these areas not only housed structures and pyramids but it has been uncovered that there were advanced irrigation systems, earthworks, large towns, causeways, and canals that cover miles.
Dr. Heiko Prümers from the German Archaeological Institute, who was also involved in the study comments that “this indicated a relatively dense settlement in pre-Hispanic times. Our goal was to conduct basic research and trace the settlements and life there. The research sheds light on the sheer magnitude and magnificence of the civic-ceremonial centers found buried in the forest”.
6. Sheep dubbed Fiona rescued from cliff in Scotland where she was stuck for more than 2 years
youtube
And at last, some positive climate news:
7. Three positive climate developments
Tumblr media
Heating
When the Paris Agreement was adopted, the global reliance on fossil fuels placed the world on a path towards a 3.5C rise in temperature by 2100. Eight years on, country commitments to reduce their carbon footprints have pulled that down slightly, putting the world on a path for a 2.5C to 2.9C by the end of the century.
Peak emissions
Annual greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change have risen roughly nine percent since COP21, according to UN data. But the rate of the increase has slowed significantly. Recent estimates by the Climate Analytics institute find global emissions could peak by 2024
Rising renewables
Three technologies—solar, wind and electric vehicles—are largely behind the improved global warming estimates since 2015.
---
That's it for this week :)
This newsletter will always be free. If you liked this post you can support me with a small kofi donation here:
Buy me a coffee ❤️
Also don’t forget to reblog this post with your friends.
812 notes · View notes
Text
Ripping up concrete sidewalks and parking lots and instead planting urban forests and using less cars can all help to decrease indoor and outdoor air temperature. In cities with an abundance of water, “soft cooling” techniques using fans and pools can also greatly reduce extreme temperatures.
Many architects today are also changing how they design buildings: only providing AC in specific rooms instead of through a central heating system. This way, people can choose to open or close their windows if they want, while reducing the energy needed to cool the hallways and lobby areas.
If you face photovoltaic panels westward, you can time the peak electricity production from solar energy with peak electricity demand for cooling. Using better glass on buildings, external shading, increasing air movement and installing ceiling fans—all of these further reduce reliance on AC.
In the longer term, we can cool our streets by narrowing them, using less dark colors that absorb heat, and aligning streets to prevailing winds. There are also ways we can overhaul the way we do air conditioning itself.
Many cities already provide air-conditioned public spaces as a public health services; we could also redesign apartment buildings with social spaces for people to hang out, by, for example, transforming the much cooler basements into lounges.
We could build cooperative housing that is ecologically and efficiently designed, so that people can together manage their energy use and decide on their own innovations to lower temperature. Toronto has a district cooling system that uses cold water from the bottom of Lake Ontario, and then uses the warmed up water for the drinking water supply.
617 notes · View notes
sjwallin · 9 months
Text
The White House had solar panels for 7 years:
On June 20, 1979, the Carter administration installed 32 panels designed to harvest the sun's rays and use them to heat water…[Carter predicted at the dedication ceremony], “A generation from now, this solar heater can either be a curiosity, a museum piece, an example of a road not taken or it can be just a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people."
By 1986, the Reagan administration had gutted the research and development budgets for renewable energy at the then-fledgling U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) and eliminated tax breaks for the deployment of wind turbines and solar technologies…
And in 1986 the Reagan administration quietly dismantled the White House solar panel installation while resurfacing the roof. "Hey! That system is working. Why don't you keep it?" recalls mechanical engineer Fred Morse, now of Abengoa Solar, who helped install the original solar panels as director of the solar energy program during the Carter years and then watched as they were dismantled during his tenure in the same job under Reagan.
138 notes · View notes
mysterymanjoseph · 5 months
Text
A Little Neck of the Woods: mysterymanjoseph and callsforjustice
Joseph had gotten the idea for the homestead out of thin air really. Finding the thousand acres of good land near the mountains in Idaho was not all that hard, and a crew to build the simple ranch house and barn structure was not difficult at all. The perimeter fence was nothing but wooden posts, with no trespassing, no hunting signs on them, no wire or anything to impede the travel of the animals that might pass through. The only real fencing was around the house and barn, to prevent 'close encounters', with any big predators that might wander in close. Solar and wind back up power systems were installed, as well as a water turbine set up from a good flowing stream nearby, no need to be on the grid. The place has a wood stove for heat, and even a wood fired cook stove. All construction finished, the big thing was firewood, and he had been working on that for weeks, taking dead fall from the edges of the mountain area, cutting it to length and splitting it with the hydraulic wood splitting machine he had brought in. All is about ready, as a blizzard was set to star the next day, and Joseph decided, after making certain all preparations were in order, to stay and ride it out, to see how everything fared. He was on his front porch, watching clouds roll in on one morning, when 'they' showed up, groups of people protesting that he was 'defiling' mother nature. Attacks were on social media against him as well, and he was sorely tempted to put his corporate cyber team on the case, to hack and scramble the accounts of anyone spreading the attacks, but, that would probably only make things worse. As he watches the groups hold up their signs, and shout slogans through loud speakers, he thinks, "They are doing more to disturb the wildlife than I am in any way."
@callsforjustice
54 notes · View notes
jupitersolar · 2 months
Text
Solar Water Heater Prices PDF
Your Guide to Solar Water Heater Prices PDF
Looking to harness the power of solar energy? Discover the latest trends and insights on solar water heater prices PDF. Learn how to save money while contributing to a greener future.
Introduction
In today's environmentally conscious world, more and more homeowners are turning to sustainable solutions for their energy needs. Solar water heaters offer a cost-effective and eco-friendly alternative to traditional heating systems. In this comprehensive guide, we'll delve into the intricacies of solar water heater prices PDF, helping you make an informed decision about harnessing the power of the sun for your home. Learn about the solar water heater from Jupiter Solar,www.jupitersolars.in.
Understanding Solar Water Heater Prices PDF
Exploring Different Types
Solar water heaters come in various types, each catering to different needs and budgets. From passive to active systems, understanding the differences is crucial in determining the right fit for your home.
Factors Influencing Costs
Several factors influence the price of solar water heaters PDF. From system size to installation complexity, we'll break down the key considerations that impact the overall cost of implementation.
Comparing Costs: Traditional vs. Solar
A side-by-side comparison of traditional water heating systems versus solar alternatives sheds light on the long-term cost-saving potential of transitioning to solar energy.
Key Considerations Before Investing
Assessing Your Energy Needs
Determining your household's hot water demand is the first step in evaluating the feasibility of a solar water heating system. We'll guide you through the process of assessing your energy needs accurately.
Understanding Return on Investment (ROI)
Investing in a solar water heater is not just about upfront costs; it's also about long-term savings. Learn how to calculate the ROI of a solar water heating system and maximize your investment.
Tumblr media
Navigating Installation Costs
Professional Installation vs. DIY
While professional installation ensures optimal performance, some homeowners opt for a DIY approach to save on labor costs.
Exploring Solar Water Heater Prices PDF
Budget-Friendly Options
Not all solar water heaters come with a hefty price tag. We'll highlight some budget-friendly options that deliver impressive performance without breaking the bank.
Solutions
For those willing to invest in top-of-the-line technology, premium solar water heaters offer unparalleled efficiency and durability. Explore the features and benefits of premium solutions in our detailed analysis.
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
What is the average lifespan of a solar water heater? Solar water heaters typically have a lifespan of 20 to 30 years, depending on maintenance and usage.
Are there any maintenance requirements for solar water heaters? Regular maintenance, including checking for leaks and cleaning solar panels, is essential to ensure optimal performance.
Can I use a solar water heater in cold climates? Yes, solar water heaters can be effective in cold climates, although they may require additional insulation and antifreeze solutions.
How much space do I need for installing a solar water heater? The space requirement varies depending on the type and size of the system. Consult with a professional installer to determine the space needed for your specific setup.
Will a solar water heater increase the value of my home? Yes, installing a solar water heater can increase the value of your home, as it is considered a valuable eco-friendly feature by many homebuyers.
Conclusion
Investing in a solar water heater is not just a financial decision; it's a step towards a more sustainable future. By understanding the factors that influence solar water heater prices PDF and weighing the long-term benefits, you can unlock significant savings while reducing your carbon footprint.
1 note · View note
envirosunshinecoast · 2 years
Text
SUNSHINE COAST SOLAR HOT WATER Adventures
Tumblr media
Modern Energy Efficient Sunshine Coast Hot Water Systems is a company that builds and designs hot water systems on the Sunshine Coast. Thanks to Envirosun, your hot water system doesn't have to be the most energy-consuming equipment in your home. Envirosun Solar and Heat Pump hot water heaters can reduce your energy and gas costs for heating and maintaining your hot water heater by 70% to 95%. Solahart Hot Water has a number of locations on the Sunshine Coast, including Maroochy Waters, Noosa, and Palmwoods. For over 20 years, we have provided heaters to both residential and commercial buildings. It's an excellent choice for Sunshine Coast residents interested in solar water heating. Those who want to reduce their carbon footprint should make a financial investment.
0 notes
cognitivejustice · 1 month
Text
Stable electricity is essential to patient care, enabling health workers to run medical devices like heart monitors, quickly heat water to disinfect surgical tools, and refrigerate medications and vaccines.
Electricity has been one of the major challenges for health centers in Masisea and Iparia, rural communities in the Amazon rainforest, reachable only by boat. More than 12,000 people live in these communities, representing 87 indigenous groups, such as the Asháninka and the Shipibo-Konibo.
The panels installed by Socios En Salud store this energy in a battery, ensuring electricity is available even on cloudy days. As part of its efforts to strengthen health systems sustainably and for the long term, Socios En Salud trained clinic staff on how to maintain the solar panels and their batteries.    Ever since the panels were installed, they’ve been powering the health centers in more ways than one.    “Now, patient demand is more regular,” says Mónica Córdoba Macuy, an obstetrician at Masisea Health Center. “Before it was not much.”    The stable, 24/7 electricity supplied by the solar panels has directly impacted care for at least 1,200 patients in Masisea.    “Now that they’ve put in solar panels for 24-hour lighting, that helped us a lot,” says Vázquez. “It’s the first time in my life since I was born that I’ve seen lights 24 hours a day.” 
9 notes · View notes
Text
Tumblr media
LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN
December 27, 2023
HEATHER COX RICHARDSON
DEC 28, 2023
Fifty years ago tomorrow, on December 28, 1973, President Richard Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act into law. Declaring that Congress had determined that “various species of fish, wildlife, and plants in the United States have been rendered extinct as a consequence of economic growth and development untempered by adequate concern and conservation,” the act provided for the protection of endangered species. 
Just over a decade before, in 1962, ecologist Rachel Carson had published Silent Spring, documenting how pesticides designed to eliminate insects were devastating entire ecosystems of linked organisms. The realization that human destruction of the natural world could make the planet uninhabitable spurred Congress in 1970 to create the Environmental Protection Agency. And in 1973, when Nixon called for stronger laws to protect species in danger of extinction, 194 Democrats and 160 Republicans in the House—99% of those voting—voted yes. Only four Republicans in the House voted no.    
Such strong congressional support for protecting the environment signaled that a new era was at hand. While President Gerald Ford, who succeeded Nixon, tended to dial back environmental protections when he could in order to promote the development of oil and gas resources, President Jimmy Carter pressed the protection of the environment when he took office in 1977. 
In 1978, Carter placed 56 million acres of land in Alaska under federal protection as national monuments, doubling the size of the national park system. “These areas contain resources of unequaled scientific, historic and cultural value, and include some of the most spectacular scenery and wildlife in the world,” he said. In 1979 he had 32 solar panels installed at the White House to help heat the water for the building and demonstrate that it was possible to curb U.S. dependence on fossil fuels. Just before he left office, Carter signed into law the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, protecting more than 100 million acres in Alaska, including additional protections for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Oil companies, mining companies, timber companies, the cattle industry, and local officials eager for development strongly opposed Carter’s moves to protect the environment. In Alaska, local activists deliberately broke the regulations in the newly protected places, portraying Carter as King George III—against whom the American colonists revolted in 1776—and insisting that the protection of lands violated the promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness promised in the Declaration of Independence. 
For the most part, though, opposition to federal protection of the environment showed up as a drive to reform government regulations that, opponents argued, gave far too much power to unelected bureaucrats. In environmental regulations, the federal government’s protection of the public good ran smack into economic development.
In their 1980 presidential platform, Republicans claimed to be committed to “the conservation and wise management of America’s renewable natural resources” and said the government must protect public health. But they were not convinced that current laws and regulations provided benefits that justified their costs. “Too often,” they said, “current regulations are…rigid and narrow,” and they “strongly affirm[ed] that environmental protection must not become a cover for a ‘no-growth’ policy and a shrinking economy.”
In his acceptance speech for the Republican presidential nomination, Ronald Reagan explained that he wanted to see the U.S. produce more energy to fuel “growth and productivity. Large amounts of oil and natural gas lay beneath our land and off our shores, untouched because the present Administration seems to believe the American people would rather see more regulation, taxes and controls than more energy.” 
In his farewell address after voters elected Reagan, Carter urged Americans to “protect the quality of this world within which we live…. There are real and growing dangers to our simple and our most precious possessions: the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the land which sustains us,” he warned. “The rapid depletion of irreplaceable minerals, the erosion of topsoil, the destruction of beauty, the blight of pollution, the demands of increasing billions of people, all combine to create problems which are easy to observe and predict, but difficult to resolve. If we do not act, the world of the year 2000 will be much less able to sustain life than it is now.” 
“But,” Carter added, “[a]cknowledging the physical realities of our planet does not mean a dismal future of endless sacrifice. In fact, acknowledging these realities is the first step in dealing with them. We can meet the resource problems of the world—water, food, minerals, farmlands, forests, overpopulation, pollution if we tackle them with courage and foresight.”
Reagan began by appointing pro-industry officials James G. Watt and Anne M. Gorsuch (mother of Supreme Court justice Neil Gorsuch) as secretary of the interior and administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, respectively; they set out to gut government regulation of the environment by slashing budgets and firing staff. But both resigned under scandal in 1983, and their replacements satisfied neither those who wanted to return to the practices of the Carter years nor those who wanted to get rid of those practices altogether. 
Still, with their focus on developing oil and gas, when workers repairing the White House roof removed the solar panels in 1986, Reagan administration officials declined to reinstall them. 
Forty years later, we are reaping the fruits of that shift away from the atmosphere that gave us the Endangered Species Act and toward a focus on developing fossil fuels. On November 30 the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), an agency of the United Nations, reported that global temperatures in 2023 were at record highs both on land and in the seas, Antarctic sea ice extent is at a record low, and devastating fires, floods, outbreaks of disease, and searing heat waves have pounded human communities this year.
The WMO released this provisional report the same day that the U.N. Climate Change negotiations, known as COP28, began in the United Arab Emirates. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres urged leaders to commit to act to address climate change, while there was still time to avoid “the worst of climate chaos.” After a year in which countries staggered under extreme weather events, climate change is on people’s minds: nearly 80,000 people, including world leaders and celebrities, registered to attend COP28.
After the convention ended on December 13, Umair Irfan of Vox summarized the agreement hashed out there. For the first time in 27 such conventions, countries explicitly called for the phasing out of fossil fuel…but they didn’t say when or by how much. After taking stock of what countries are doing to address climate change, the meeting concluded that efforts to reduce emissions, invest in technology, adapt to warming, and help suffering countries are all falling short. 
In addition to acknowledging the need to move away from fossil fuels, COP28 agreed to cut methane, boost renewable energy considerably, and help countries that are dealing with the fallout from climate change: island nations, for example. But emissions of greenhouse gases continue to rise, and the hope of limiting warmer temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius now seems a long shot. Still, renewable energy capacity grew nearly 10% in 2022, led by solar and wind power. 
Today President Joe Biden used the anniversary of the Endangered Species Act to reclaim the spirit of the era in which it was written, urging Americans to protect ecosystems and biodiversity, “honor all the progress we have made toward protecting endangered species,” and to “come together to conserve our planet.” He noted that thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden-Harris administration has been able to invest billions of dollars in forest management, ecosystem restoration, and protection of watersheds, as well as making historic investments in addressing climate change, and that, as president, he has protected more lands and waters than any president since John F. Kennedy.
And yet the forces that undermined that spirit are still at work. In the 2022 West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency decision, the Supreme Court claimed that Congress could not delegate “major questions” to executive agencies, thus limiting the EPA’s ability to regulate the emissions that create climate change; and House Republicans this summer held a hearing on “the destructive cost of the Endangered Species Act,” claiming that it “has been misused and misapplied for the past 50 years” with “disastrous effects on local economies and businesses throughout the United States.” Chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources Bruce Westerman (R-AR) accused the Biden administration of stifling “everything from forest management to future energy production through burdensome ESA regulations.”
While in 1980 voters could react to such a contrast between the parties’ environmental visions ideologically, in 2023, reality itself is weighing in. Brady Dennis of the Washington Post noted today that in this era of rising waters and epic storms, North Carolina has become the fourth state, along with South Carolina, New York, and New Jersey, to require home sellers to disclose their home’s flooding history and flood risk to prospective buyers.
LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN
HEATHER COX RICHARDSON
12 notes · View notes
mariacallous · 10 months
Text
Few people on Earth have reached closer to its center than Buzz Speyrer, a drilling engineer with a long career in oil and gas. It’s about 1,800 miles down to the core, smoldering from celestial impacts that date back billions of years and stoked to this day by friction and radioactivity. That heat percolating upwards turns the rock above into a viscous liquid and beyond that into a gelatinous state that geologists call plastic. It’s only within about 100 miles of the surface that rock becomes familiar and hard and drillable.
Right now, Speyrer’s equipment is about 8,500 feet below us, or about 2 percent of the way through that layer, where the heat is already so great that every extra foot, every extra inch, is a hard-won victory. Down there, any liquid you pumped in would become, as Speyrer puts it, hot enough to deep fry a turkey. “Imagine that splashing you,” he says. At that temperature, about 450 degrees Fahrenheit (228 degrees Celsius) his gear can start having problems. Electronics fail. Bearings warp. Hundreds of thousands dollars worth of equipment might go down a borehole, and if it breaks down there, make sure it doesn’t get stuck. In that case, best to just plug that hole, which probably cost millions to drill, tally up your losses, and move on.
Even when things are going well down there, it’s hard to know from up here on the Earth’s surface. “It’s frustrating as hell,” says Joseph Moore, a geologist at the University of Utah, as he watches the halting movements of a 160-foot-tall rig through a trailer window. It’s a cool day in 2022, in a remote western Utah county named Beaver, a breeze whipping off the Mineral Mountains toward hog farms and wind turbines on the valley floor below. The rig looks much like any oil and gas installation dotting the American West. But there are no hydrocarbons in the granite below us, only heat.
Since 2018, Moore has led a $220 million bet by the US Department of Energy (DOE), called FORGE, or the Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy, that this heat can be harnessed to produce electricity in most parts of the world. Geothermal energy is today a rare resource, tapped only in places where the crust has cracked a little and heat mingles with groundwater, producing hot springs or geysers that can power electricity-generating turbines. But such watery hot spots are rare. Iceland, straddling two diverging tectonic plates, hits a geological jackpot and produces about a quarter of its electricity that way; in Kenya, volcanism in the Great Rift Valley helps push that figure to more than 40 percent. In the US, it’s just 0.4 percent, almost all of it coming from California and Nevada.
Yet there’s hot rock everywhere, if you drill deep enough. Moore’s project is trying to create an “enhanced” geothermal system, or EGS, by reaching hot, dense rock like granite, cracking it open to form a reservoir, and then pumping in water to soak up heat. The water is then drawn up through a second well, emerging a few hundred degrees hotter than it was before: an artificial hot spring that can drive steam turbines. That design can sound straightforward, plumbing water from point A to point B, but despite a half-century of work, the complexities of engineering and geology have meant no one has managed to make EGS work at practical scale—yet.
Moore is trying to demonstrate it can be done. And in the process, maybe he can get more entrepreneurs and investors as hyped about geothermal as he is. Renewable electricity generation, whether from sun or wind or hot ground, typically offers steady but unremarkable returns once the power starts flowing. That’s fine if your upfront costs are cheap—a requirement wind turbines and solar panels now generally meet. Geothermal happens to require a risky multimillion-dollar drilling project to get started. While clean, dependable power derived from the Earth’s core can complement the on-again, off-again juice from wind and solar, there are safer underground bets for those with the expertise and financing to drill: A geothermal well might take 15 years to pay for itself; a natural gas rig does it in two.
No surprise, then, that there are 2 million active oil and gas wells worldwide, but only 15,000 for geothermal, according to Norwegian energy consultancy Rystad Energy. Nearly all are hydrothermal, relying on those natural sources of hot water. Only a few are EGS. A trio of operating plants in eastern France produce only a trickle of power, having drilled into relatively cool rock. Then there are hotter experiments, like here in Utah and across the border in Nevada, where a Houston startup called Fervo is working to connect two wells of its own, a project that is meant to provide clean power to a Google data center.
Moore believes FORGE can make EGS more attractive by showing it’s possible to go hotter. Every extra degree should mean more energy zapped into the grid and more profit. But drilling hot and hard granite, rather than cooler and softer shale that gas frackers like Speyrer typically split apart, isn’t trivial. Nor is drilling the wide wells required to move large volumes of water for a geothermal plant. Thus, a chicken-and-egg problem: The geothermal industry needs tools and techniques adapted from oil and gas—and in some cases, entirely new ones—but because nobody knows whether EGS will work, they don’t exist yet. Which is where FORGE comes in, playing a role Moore describes as “de-risking” the tools and methods. “Nobody is going to spend that money unless I spend that money,” he says.
In Beaver County, his team is testing a bridge plug—a cap, essentially—that will seal off a section of pipe so that water can be forced into surrounding rock with enough force to crack granite. It’s late morning and a dozen water tankers are parked in imposing formation next to the rig. Around lunchtime, they’ll test whether the plug can hold the pressure, and before dinner should fire “the guns”—small explosive charges—to perforate the pipe. Then they’ll push in the water to split the rock in time for a midnight snack—“if everything goes smoothly,” Moore says.
In other words, a pretty standard frack, the technique that has flooded the US with a bounty of natural gas over the past 15 years. But don’t use the f-word too liberally, please—it’s rather taboo in geothermal, even though the industry’s future may depend on the technology. The sensitivity is not just about the association with fossil fuels. Frack in the wrong place, over some hidden fault, and the earth can tremble with damaging intensity.
The team is closely watching data recorded by eight geophones—acoustic detectors that pick up seismic waves—hanging in nearby boreholes. So far, the only clear signal is that it’s really hot down there. A few minutes before the start of the pressure test, John McLennan, a chemical engineer co-managing the frack, arrives in the trailer with bad news about a pair of geophones.
“Both of them have failed,” he says. “Just can’t handle the temperature.”
“I’m too old for this,” Moore replies.
It had been a long few days. It wasn’t supposed to be a 24-hour operation, but here they were, delayed by high winds and malfunctioning equipment, another long day and night ahead. Now he’d lost a pair of crucial ears telling him what was going on beneath the surface.
While the FORGE team preps for the frack, Moore and I drive into the Mineral Mountains to see why geothermal energy has thus far fallen short of its potential. We stop at the perimeter fence of the Blundell Geothermal Plant, which sits a few miles from FORGE, on the eastern edge of a hot zone stretching hundreds of miles west to the Pacific. The appeal of the location is obvious. Near the site, fissures in the rock reveal places where hot water has burbled to the surface, carrying minerals that hardened into rivulets of crystal. A few hundred feet away, sulfurous clouds rise from the soil around a 19th-century shed where cowboys and miners once took hot soaks.
The plant, which is owned by Portland-based electric utility PacifiCorp, was built during a geothermal boom during the 1970s oil crisis. But by the time its turbines began spinning in 1984, energy prices had fallen and the boom was already fading. The vast majority of US plants operating today still date back to the 1980s—a painful fact for a geothermal enthusiast like Moore. His own journey in the industry began around that time, as he transitioned away from an earlier career prospecting for uranium deposits—itself then a waning industry—that had initially brought him to Utah from his native New York City.
He considers Blundell especially underutilized, pointing to turbines that could be upgraded to produce more energy and spots where PacifiCorp could drill more hydrothermal wells. “It’s just risk aversion,” he says. “They say, ‘I can’t see what’s underground, so I’m skeptical about drilling.’” (PacifiCorp did not respond to requests for comment.)
Only a few companies are exploring new hydrothermal locations. One of them is Reno-based Ormat Technologies, which owns and operates more than 20 geothermal plants worldwide. Paul Thomsen, the company’s vice president for business development, tells me how Ormat established its business by purchasing existing plants and updating their turbines to draw more power from the same hot water. More recently, drawing on its experience with everything from drilling to plant operations, it started building new plants.
But it’s tricky to pick winners, even when there’s an obvious hydrothermal resource to exploit. Desert towns in the American West have rebelled against proposals out of concern groundwater will be drained away. And wherever biologists look in hot springs, they have found unique species deserving of protection. Stack that on top of lengthy permitting processes and challenges with connecting new plants to the grid, and options dwindle. Ormat has had recent setbacks at two of its proposed sites, over groundwater near the Nevada site of Burning Man and over the tiny Dixie Valley toad, a species recently listed as endangered.
The challenges of natural hot springs have made creating artificial ones all the more appealing. In 2006, the DOE, along with researchers at MIT, issued a report describing a plan for making geothermal a major contributor to the US grid to help meet climate goals. The flexibility offered by EGS was at the heart of it. Although the depth at which rock gets hot enough varies—shallower out in the American West than on the East Coast, for example—the scientists reckoned it could be reasonable to drill for heat in most places, either to produce electricity or, at lower temperatures, hot water to warm buildings.
In 2014, the DOE started looking for a place to serve as a testing ground for repurposing tools from oil and gas, and, four years later, picked Beaver County as the experiment’s home. Soon afterward, the agency calculated that geothermal could satisfy 8.5 percent of US electricity demand by 2050—a 26-fold increase from today. All that was missing was proof that EGS worked.
The Forge well descends straight down for about 6,000 feet (1.8 kilometers), reaching granite about two-thirds of the way there before making a 65 degree turn and going nearly 5,000 feet (1.5 kilometers) farther. Among Moore’s passions, enthusiastically demonstrated with hand motions and napkin diagrams, is the internal “stress field” of the granite that determines how it will crack under pressure.
Understanding that stress field is essential. For an efficient power plant, the cracks must extend far enough for water to move efficiently between the two wells—but not too fast, says Teresa Jordan, a geothermal scientist at Cornell University in New York, where she is leading an EGS project aimed at heating campus buildings with geothermal water. “You want it to take its time, spending a lot of time in contact with rocks that will heat it up,” she says. The cracks must also deliver as much water as possible to the second well—and not into hidden fissures along the way—and also stay hot for years of use. Hot rocks can cool to tepid if cold water pumped in soaks up heat faster than the core’s heat can replenish it. Vanishing water and dwindling heat have played a role in past EGS failures, including in New Mexico in the 1980s and in southern Australia in 2015.
Those risks have sent others looking for different approaches, each with their own tradeoffs. One, a “closed-loop” system, involves running sealed pipes down into the hot rock and then back to the surface, preventing any water from draining away underground. But it has proved tricky to get enough heat into liquid that doesn’t touch hot rocks directly. Or maybe you drill really deep—say, 12 miles down—where temperatures can exceed 1,650 Fahrenheit (900 degrees Celsius), enough for the heat to rise straight to the surface up a single well. But the tools to drill at such depths are still experimental. Others think existing oil and gas wells are the answer, saving on drilling costs and unlocking the industry’s abundant tools for its own wells. But the narrower wells used for extracting fossil fuels aren’t built for pushing the vast volumes of water necessary for a power plant.
EGS proponents argue designs like FORGE strike the right balance, adding enough heat and flexibility over traditional geothermal, while being able to take advantage of oil and gas methods, The newest EGS experiments are enabled by advances in horizontal drilling and better fracking models, says Tim Latimer, CEO of Fervo, which is working with FORGE as it develops its own EGS project in Nevada. He tells me he thinks that the projections energy investors use to estimate geothermal drilling costs—ones that make them hesitant—are 15 years out of date. During the drilling of the first FORGE well, he points out, the team demonstrated it could halve the time using a new, diamond-tipped bit, cutting overall costs by 20 percent.
Around 3 pm, after our walk around the Blundell plant, Moore returns to the drill site and sees McLennan jogging over to greet him. He has good news. First up: The plug has held under pressure. Moore lets out a big breath, hands on hips. “I’m glad that’s over with,” he says. Later, after the guns are fired and water pumped in, a “seismic cloud” of tiny quakes picked up by the remaining geophones, suspended at lesser heat and depth, indicates that the cracks extend about 400 feet from the well—the right distance to connect with the second, future well that will draw newly heated water up to the surface. A third piece of good news is that the seismic cloud couldn’t be felt on the surface.
That’s especially good news to Peter Meier, the CEO of Geo-Energie Suisse, a geothermal energy consortium. He traveled to Utah from Switzerland mostly to listen to the geophones. In 2006, a 3.1 magnitude quake occurred after engineers on a Swiss EGS project attempted to create a water reservoir that was too large and disturbed an unmapped fault, damaging homes nearby in Basel. (A geologist faced criminal negligence charges for his role in the quake, but was later acquitted.) Local governments in Switzerland have been wary of EGS operations since.
In 2017, an even bigger quake triggered by an EGS project in South Korea, which injured 82 people, dimmed the concept’s prospects even further. But Meier believes those earthquakes were due to poor planning on the part of engineers—avoidable, with more careful study of the rocks. He sees FORGE as a chance to rescue the reputation of EGS by demonstrating it working safely. “Until we have a success story it’s a discussion about fracking, because basically, it is fracking,” he says.
This spring, Moore returned to Beaver County to drill well number two. After nearly a year of reviewing the data from the initial frack, he felt confident that the production well, drilled straight through the cloud of cracks from the frack, would succeed in getting water back out. Earlier this month, he was proved right: Nearly 76,000 gallons went down the first hole at a rate of about 210 gallons per minute, and came back out the other end hotter. A full-scale test in 2024 will get the flow rates closer to those required for commercial EGS plants, which should cycle more than a thousand gallons per minute.
Part of Moore’s confidence was that he knew he was playing on easy mode. By design, the two wells are too close together to draw up substantial heat for a power plant—the point at this stage was mostly the tools and techniques financed and tested along the way. Prior to the test, Moore was excited to tell me about the new gadgets available for creating the production well, including particle drilling, in which rock is eaten away by shooting small, high-velocity metal balls; a rotary drilling system that they could steer from the surface; and upgraded, more heat resistant geophones.
In the end, all three were less useful than Moore had hoped. The particle drilling and steerable system turned out to be more trouble than they were worth, especially compared with the earlier success of the diamond-tipped bits. The modified geophones still fritzed beyond about 300 degrees Fahrenheit (150 degrees Celsius); Moore says they’ll eventually switch over to heat-proof, fiber optic-based devices. But that’s the point, he says, of “de-risking.” Sometimes it’s helpful to see what breaks.
There are other reasons to feel hopeful. A few days after the FORGE connection, Fervo released results from its own 30-day connection test in Nevada. The result, according to Latimer, is “the most productive enhanced geothermal project ever completed,” producing enough hot water to generate about 3.5 megawatts of electricity. The boreholes were drilled near an existing hydrothermal plant that has room for more capacity, and will produce power by the end of the summer, he says.
“We’ve shown that it works,” Latimer says. “Now the question is how quickly can we bring it down the cost curve.” That includes getting hotter. Fervo’s Nevada wells peaked at 370 degrees Fahrenheit (190 degrees Celsius)—hotter, he points out, than any other horizontal oil and gas well in the US—and hot enough to prove that its own tools can go a bit hotter next time. There are also crucial questions about drilling, he adds: the optimal distance between the wells, the angles, the depth. “It’s not like software where you can iterate quickly,” he says. The industry needs more experiments, more projects, to figure out the most productive combination—each of them bound to be expensive and difficult.
More opportunities to iterate are likely coming. The US Inflation Reduction Act has poured money into green energy infrastructure, adding incentives to geothermal development that put it closer to existing ones available to wind and solar. Meanwhile, the DOE upped its goal for geothermal electricity generation in 2050 by 50 percent, to 90 MW, based in part on improved prospects for EGS technology, and in February announced that it would spend an additional $74 million on pilot EGS demonstrations. None of them are likely to go as hot as FORGE just yet, Moore suspects. “I think we’re going to be looking at temperatures where we know the tools work,” he says. But it’s a start.
Some might try to use that warmth for direct heating, like Jordan’s project at Cornell. Others might drill at the edge of proven hydrothermal areas, where the heat is more accessible. And there are other, creative approaches to maximize revenue. Fervo and others have proposed using their wells as batteries—pumping down water when the grid has excess energy and then bringing it back hot at leaner times to generate power—or building plants alongside power-hungry facilities like data centers or future carbon removal plants, avoiding the challenges of connecting to an overloaded power grid.
Scaling up from there will require much more investment. And the degree to which investors—especially in oil and gas—will pick up the baton remains to be seen. This year, Fervo picked up a $10 million investment from oil and gas company Devon Energy, a pioneer of fracking. Last month, Eavor, a closed-loop geothermal startup, announced BP Ventures had led its latest funding round. “It’s gone from zero to something,” says Henning Bjørvik, who tracks the geothermal industry at Rystad, the energy consultancy. But oil and gas is still as much a competitor—for equipment, expertise, and land—as it is a friend to geothermal, and commitments to clean energy can prove fickle when fossil fuel prices start booming. What investors need to see, Bjørvik says, is that this embryonic industry can scale to hundreds or thousands of plants—with enough potential profit to outweigh the risks of any individual project going south.
The way to do that, Moore believes, is to keep showing how things can get just a little bit hotter. Completing the research at the second FORGE borehole will exhaust its current DOE grant in 2025, but he has applied for new funding to drill wells that are further apart—and, of course, test new tools at ever higher temperatures. By then, he’ll have a new neighbor. The rig for Fervo’s next project is already visible from the FORGE well pad—the start of what’s planned to be a full-scale power plant.
If all goes to plan, it will produce 400 megawatts of energy, Latimer says, enough to power 300,000 homes. It was logical, he says, to drill in the shadow of both FORGE and Blundell. The site has been extensively surveyed and has the grid interconnections to move electricity to Fervo’s initial customers in California. The goal is geothermal energy anywhere. For now, it makes sense to start here.
15 notes · View notes