Ethanol...

Bullshit, I can just see the meeting if we have any quake when we are drilling in a earthquake zone they will blame it on us, and that could run into ten of millions or more to defense such suits and if we would lost billions so forget it.

they can make ethanol from garbage really. Its just that the end product (in energy expended) is still higher than we recoup in the product.
Corn stubble is now being used for cattle feed (It gets ground up with the cob and the corn as a "greenchop". Then its ensiled and fed as a "Stew" to lactating cows. The need to consider that we use 70% of our cropland related to meat or dairyt production is getting too high so we are using everything in grain except the rattle of the elaves.

Switchgrass, new years twig (biomass) all kinds of carbo plants can make ethanol. I like the algae diesel as THE BEST non petrol based. Its energy need is mostly reaction with an epoxide (which is methanol (Which can be made from coal) and a hydroxyl . The diesel, as a complex ester and a left over glycerin is producing a real energy dense fluid and a great by product for fertilizers, explosives, plastics etc etc.

As a great many projects using this technology are still ongoing all over the world and once we have a few years without any such quakes this nonsense should pass into history.

Along with such fears as living near high tension lines will increase your risk of cancer or cell phones will cause brain tumors or mercury in childhood shots will cause Autism.


http://newenergyandfuel.com/http:/newenergyandfuel/com/2009/09/08/altarock-loses-its-geothermal-hole/

Some scientists at the Swiss Seismological Service and other European institutions say the fault responsible for that earthquake has never been clearly identified, let alone localized beneath the geothermal project. Nicholas Deichmann of the Swiss Seismological Service says most of AltaRock’s public statements about that project, “are simply wrong. The Basel project did not drill into any known fault in the area,”

But an AltaRock scientist says the company’s description of the geothermal effort in Basel was based on documents published by scientists both in and outside the project there. Who is right may never be learned if one government agency is going one way while another is going the

USGS has been doing research into fluid intrusions and earthquake propogation by "wetted" slickenside surfaces. Its true, but the vast amount of geothermal energy in the US or the world for that matter, DOES NOT INVOLVE ACTIVE GEYSER FIELDS. Active geyser fields do need special casing and sealing tricks but most of the mistakes that have occured did not result in disasters but little blips. I would NOT drill in the Geyser fields of Cal or Wyoming for that matter. I WOULD remind you that tens of thousands of geothermal systems have been installed all over the US. (My company has designed 20 or more commercial or institutional geothermal systems where wed be talking 100 to 200 wells for a large ed complex or a hospital). Most geothermal systems today are called "Closed loop" systems where a loop well containing a heat transfer fluid is pumped unidirectionally at a fixed GPM rate and the heat from the earth is taken up in the fluid and extracted in a heat exchanger and is basically a geosource heat pump. That where most geothermal has gone because there is a known thermal gradient all over the country and the USGS has mapped the isotherms . Under big cities, for example, like Philly, the ground water temperature is about 68 degrees year round due to thermal conduction from buildings. They are only now beginning to tap this resource.

You dont need a volcano to enjoy geothermal heating (and cooling-cause it works in reverse too)