The Assignment can be 350 words
Assignment Topic: Hot Rock Geothermal Create a thread of about 350 words of well-written text answering the following questions: - Where did your current event come from? Cite the article/post/paper in the APA Style bibliographic format (see near the end of the syllabus).
- What is your event about? Provide a brief summation of the event and discuss the primary takeaways/conclusions to you and why you think so.
- How does this article relate to the readings and/or class discussion?
- Can you relate this current event to other parts of this class and things you've learned? Format Write Up IMPORTANT: Be careful not to confuse hot rock geothermal with the other type of geothermal used for building heating and cooling ("ground source" geothermal), which is obtained from shallow "ambient" earth temperatures and is the subject of Current Event #2. Hot rock geothermal is usually obtained from much deeper earth/rock and where magma exists relatively close to the surface. See the lecture slides in the Weekly Materials folder for the distinction between these two types of geothermal. Topic: CURRENT EVENT TOPIC #1: "Hot Rock" Geothermal There is presently a dramatic increase in the interest for "Hot Rock" Geothermal. The industry is expanding with new providers (energy companies, drilling companies) entering the marketplace, and more federal research dollars going towards it. A major driving force is the plummeting demand and price of crude oil and refined petroleum products (heating oil, gasoline) due to COVID lockdowns and economic slowdown. Many oil & gas workers are out of work and the drill rigs are "standing idle." In response, some of the drilling companies that used to serve the oil and gas industry are working on "re-tooling" their equipment to drill deep hot rock geothermal wells. In general, the drill depths are similar to oil and gas wells but the specific techniques differ. For example, you may have heard/read about "hydraulic fracturing," or "fracking," used in the oil and gas industry, where a liquid mix of water, drilling mud, and chemicals (some quite toxic) are injected into the deep rock to open up fractures and allow better flow of oil or gas to the wells. Hot rock geothermal does sometimes employ hydraulic fracturing, but only using fresh water so there are no environmental impacts (although there are instances where the injection process has triggered earthquakes). There is quite a buzz in the media about this and you are sure to find to current articles. Previously, hot rock geothermal was considered a "niche" market, meaning only a limited, select number of companies were implementing it. There has always been some federal R&D money available, through the U.S. Dept. of Energy, however, with its growing interest, the federal government is paying it more attention. The same is the case in other countries throughout the world. Two important items that I'll be watching out for, and if you address them you can expect the best grade: 1) Please do your best to find "current" events; by that I mean that were published/posted/etc. within the past month if possible, or say past 3 months at the oldest. It really should be possible as everything we are studying the rest of the semester are relevant today, even "hot" topics (if you'll pardon the pun). I will give extra credit if your article is 2 weeks old or less. 2) I don't want to see too much "filler" or redundant text. I do ask you to summarize the article but don't expect you to "spend" words explaining terms or concepts, as I understand the material already. Put some deep thought into the topic and feel free to question what the author is saying if something doesn't sound correct to you. You/we should always read "critically." Feel free also to speculate on the outcomes, good or bad, that you see may come out of the event you are writing about.