Atmospheric

Part 2 - Base Load Electricity

Energy is essential to all modern economies and power from photo cell panels and windmills is inherently variable and intermittent; neither can supply reliable base load electricity. This means that their output must be backed-up with more reliable generators.

While neither windmills nor solar panels emit CO2 while generating electricity, the manufacture, installation and disposal emits considerable CO2 from the mining and purification of rare elements as well as construction, installation and disposal.

To some extent the intermittent output can be stored in batteries for relatively short periods or by pumping water to refill hydro dams. There are presently only three proven ways generate reliable base load electricity without using fossil fuels:- by using heat from the fission of nuclear fuel, or by using geothermal heat energy from the Earth's core, or by using falling water (hydro electricity); although hydro is not as reliable where it may be affected by drought or reduced meltwater from glaciers.

A conventional NUCLEAR reactor may cost up to 50 billion dollars depending on the design although there are proposals for small modular reactors at lower initial costs. A conventional HYDRO station may cost up to 16 billion depending on the dam structure although very small scale generating stations can be used wherever water flows (including tidal currents ). 

The US Department of Energy (DOE) calculated the Levelized Cost Of Energy (LCOE) for various methods of generating electricity. This combined all the fixed and variable costs while also including how much electricity the plant generated during its lifetime.

The the lowest LCOE of any energy source was a GEOTHERMAL plant at $44/megawatt.hour (Mwh).

NATURAL GAS plants varied between $54 and $100/MWh (depending on the production facility). 

HYDROELECTRIC was about $64/MWh, while NUCLEAR power was $96/MWh.

SOLAR was about $73.7/MWh, while, ONSHORE WIND ENERGY was $55.8/MWh. 

The cheapest electricity is generated by geothermal heat that provides about 11,000 MW (megawatts) of electricity in 22 countries. The USA generates about 2200 MW (about the same as four large nuclear power plants). While California alone generates 1,800 MW from geothermal power plants and has more than 10,000 MW of untapped geothermal resources.

Iceland's volcanic geology provides abundant geothermal heat energy that is used to generate 1,800 MW of electricity (25% of the demand; the other 75% is supplied by hydro-power). Hot water from 100° to 300°C is used to heat homes and greenhouses, then piped into plastic tubing underneath streets and sidewalks at 30 °C (86 °F) to melt snow and ice.

Iceland is planning to drill 4.5 km (15,000ft) into its volcanic fields hoping to tap higher temperature fluids for greater efficiency.

The average cost of a geothermal power plant is about $200 million for a 500 megawatt plant.

Under the oceans, the Earth crust ranges from 5 to 10 km thick while under the continents it varies from 30 to 20 km thick.

The temperature of the crust increases with depth, ranging from about 100 near the surface, to 600 °C at the boundary with the underlying mantle. The temperature increases by as much as 30 °C for every km in the upper part of the crust.

 At 1000 feet depth, the boiling point of water is 230 °C because the pressure is 30 times atmospheric pressure, (equivalent to 441 pounds per square inch (psi) or 3000 kPa.  At 2000 ft. the boiling point is 278 °C. 

The Earth's mantle is a layer of silicate rock about 2,900 km (1,800 mi) thick. 

Underlying the mantle is the Earth's outer core, a layer of mostly molten iron and nickel about 2,300 km (1,400 mi) thick. The outer core begins approximately 2,900 km (1,800 mi) beneath Earth's surface where its temperature is between 2,700 and 4,200 °C.

Earth's inner core is a solid sphere (it is not liquid because the pressure is about 53 million pounds per square inch)