[HN Gopher] Earthgrid aims to rewire the USA using super-cheap t...
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Earthgrid aims to rewire the USA using super-cheap tunnel tech
Author : bookofjoe
Score : 33 points
Date : 2022-07-23 15:14 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (newatlas.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (newatlas.com)
| ghostly_s wrote:
| What? I'm pretty sure the reason we don't have a nationwide power
| grid has nothing to do with "we don't have anywhere to put the
| wires!"
| sparker72678 wrote:
| > In its low-power state, with each torch consuming 500 kW,
| Helming estimates a total power draw of 40 megawatts. If you need
| to get cracking, the high-power state would draw as much as a
| constant 120 MW.
|
| 40MW at low power. How in the world do they think they're going
| to get that much power at a drill site and stay low cost?
| vidanay wrote:
| Monster Cables
| stirlo wrote:
| Receiving power from where? 40MW is the capacity of a medium
| sized wind farm. The larger tunnel configuration uses 1.38GW.
| That's more than most large scale coal or nuclear plants.
|
| Even if they could obtain the supply from a plant operator
| the cabling to get to the site of the tunnel cost a fortune
| pfdietz wrote:
| How will they _cool_ the tunnel? That 's for a 1 meter tunnel.
| If they're cooling it with air heated by 100 C, the airflow
| will have to be supersonic.
| Gravityloss wrote:
| Hmm, liquid sodium, lead or molten salt cooling?
|
| Edit: 40 MW is just 150 liters per second of water with a 80
| degC temperature rise.
| sudosysgen wrote:
| 40MW isnt that much, water can do it (granted at a serious
| cost)
| nathanaldensr wrote:
| For me, the keyword from the article was
|
| > _developing_
|
| meaning they haven't completed the tech yet. This is likely a
| marketing puff piece designed to drum up investment interest.
| I'll believe wild claims like
|
| > _98% cheaper_
|
| once they actually happen.
| phkahler wrote:
| I'm not even sure they could get that kind of power into the
| small tunnels they'd be making.
|
| Seems to me, if they really can plasma cut rock it would be way
| easier to slice out sections and remove large chunks of solid
| rock. Or chop it into many smaller "bricks" and move those out.
| LinuxBender wrote:
| Are there any videos of this in action? I would like to see how
| it deals with methane and water pockets. Is the device strong
| enough to deal with the compression and blow-back?
| bookofjoe wrote:
| https://youtu.be/VRGufaph27E
| stevenjgarner wrote:
| Well it says right there in the video : "100% Renewable
| Energy" => How?
| alexb_ wrote:
| I find it hilarious that in the stock footage of two
| "workers" in the tunnel the woman is wearing high heels LMAO
| robert_foss wrote:
| Not exactly a video of a drill rig.
| masswerk wrote:
| Regarding the realism of this, I feel eerily reminded of projects
| for civil use of fission bombs in the 1950s.
| CapitalistCartr wrote:
| Project Plowshare!
|
| Atoms for Peace!
|
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Plowshare
|
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atoms_for_Peace
| aaaaaaaaaaab wrote:
| Meh. There are better technologies for cheap tunnel boring:
| https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/4687637
| thrwawy74 wrote:
| I know it's not this company's focus, but I wish we had coast-to-
| coast and Mexico-to-Canada tunnels for travel and defense. Just
| imagine having no street-level highways, and what that would
| means for animal migrations in more rural areas. Has me thinking
| of some iRobot scenes. :)
| clairity wrote:
| that's not practical for cross-country travel, but it's
| imminently possible in cities. think how much greener and human
| scale cities would be if all cars were underground, including
| parking.
| dboreham wrote:
| Don't need to imagine. Just go to Oslo.
| BurningFrog wrote:
| This would be great for vampires. Also incredibly expensive.
| tqkxzugoaupvwqr wrote:
| In other countries animal bridges connect habitats split by
| highways.
|
| https://duckduckgo.com/?q=animal+bridge&t=h_&iax=images&ia=i...
| nrp wrote:
| There are over 1,000 wildlife overpasses and underpasses in
| America as well: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/05/
| 31/climate/wildl...
| phpisthebest wrote:
| At this point we probably need coast-to-coast tunnels /
| pipelines for moving water around
| asdff wrote:
| Why? There is plenty of water in the west. It's just
| mismanaged by entrenched agrarian business interests.
| phpisthebest wrote:
| 20+ year drought, all reservoirs at record low levels does
| not indicate "plenty of water"
|
| Sure the mismanaged water is a problem but I am not sure
| baring the use for "agrarian business interests" aka Food
| production, is the solution either.
|
| What is your solution or idea of proper management? Only
| Potable uses?
| asdff wrote:
| Switching from flood based irrigation to spot watering.
| Selecting different crops than cotton for mattresses and
| pistachios or alfalfa and hay used for export. Farmers in
| the West use a lot of water because they can due to their
| water rights agreement, then they say "given this water
| allocation, what crop will maximize my return on my
| dollar" and they end up doing stuff like growing
| pistachios as a result because that's where the
| incentives have pushed them. Adjust the incentives and
| the crop choices and practices in the west will change.
| We don't need the cotton fit for mattresses or $10 bags
| of pistacios to feed us. The midwest alone produces
| plenty enough biomass for this country. Much of it there
| as well is exported elsewhere for individualized profit.
| jandrese wrote:
| We probably have to rethink growing the thirstiest crops
| in a semi-arid environment.
| arrosenberg wrote:
| > Sure the mismanaged water is a problem but I am not
| sure baring the use for "agrarian business interests" aka
| Food production, is the solution either.
|
| It really is though. They're using over 90% of the water
| in the state, so where else do you suggest cutting it
| from? Further, if you look into the state of California's
| water rights, you will come to understand that the
| problem is, in fact, a group of reactionary agri-barons
| who jealously protect their ability to freeload off the
| State's natural resources.
| asdff wrote:
| The U.S. is too bought into security theaterism for this to
| happen. The border especially the southern border should feel
| like a state border. Border towns already have probably half
| their commuters playing this stupid "heres my papers sir"
| fascist border crossing game to go work their retail job in El
| Paso or wherever. It's a performance for politics at the end of
| the day which means its not going away any time soon as long as
| it continues to have political utility. San diego transit would
| run into TJ if this world had any logic, but instead you exit
| the train from san diego a few feet from the border and have to
| cross by foot into tj, because security theater.
|
| Meanwhile the cartel just reacts by opening more labs and grow
| operations stateside or digging tunnels themselves instead of
| having their business be at all affected by this security
| theater.
| yellowapple wrote:
| Finally, the technology we need to build the long-overdue
| Alameda-Weehawken Burrito Tunnel.
| phendrenad2 wrote:
| The ONLY things stopping the US from building are paranoid
| environmentalist concerns and NIMBYs (even in the middle of
| nowhere, a NIMBY will surely appear to complain at the planning
| meeting, possibly because they want more cash for their land).
|
| I don't think putting infrastructure under the ground is going to
| magically make these factors go away.
| robert_foss wrote:
| If built using a 'plasma cutters oriented in a fibonacci spiral'
| this thing will only be able to cut through conductive materials.
|
| Additionally it will only be able to cut tunnels through material
| that don't require supporting walls.
|
| Not to be cynical, but this is 100% never going to see the light
| of day.
| BurningFrog wrote:
| Tunnels typically don't see the light of day...
| robert_foss wrote:
| lol
| moomin wrote:
| Cold shower time: America does not have a problem building
| infrastructure. It has a problem maintaining it.
| echelon wrote:
| Tell that to the California high speed rail project. Or pretty
| much every other city's municipal heavy rail. Or municipal
| broadband.
| andbberger wrote:
| america also has a problem building
| astrange wrote:
| It can't build it with any finite budget.
|
| https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/why-cant-america-build-tra...
|
| Though it can't maintain a lot of it either, but it's the
| unsexy suburbs it can't maintain.
|
| https://www.strongtowns.org/the-growth-ponzi-scheme
| jorblumesea wrote:
| More specifically, funding that maintenance.
|
| Federal government is a complete political mess of warring
| factions, many of which see any public spending as heretical.
| Local governments can't deficit spend and constituents
| similarly allergic to tax increases.
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(page generated 2022-07-24 23:00 UTC)