>i saw something on tv yesterday that gave me an idea. what if you drilled a hole deep enough into the ground to get a fair amount of heat, like a narrow circular hole, and then put a fan and generator over the hole. anyone have any idea how much energy that would produce?<
In theory it would work- with some sort of magic "heat compressor", which currently is a contradiction.
The ground temperature on the Earth varies between -60 degrees and 140 degrees, but when you get 10+ feet below ground, the temp is a constant 60... that ten feet of earth above you is enough of an insulator to insulate a 200 degree swing.
So yeah- if you dug a hole 10+ feet into the ground, you'd tap into a volume of a constant 60 degree temperature, but how do you turn it into energy? How do you bring it up to ground level in the winter?
And that's where a magic heat compressor comes into play- a windmill. A giant, closed pipe- half is above ground, half is 10 feet below ground. Connected to a windmill that generates X2 energy (thereby keeping the air in this closed system flowing at "X2 speed") and you have a house that is 60 degrees inside, 365 days a year.
At that point, all you need is a way to go from 60 to 72 degrees (a +12 degree shift) and that's where a passive heating system comes into play:
Another closed system made of black tubes on the roof and a water heater/coolant tank in the basement. The black tubes absorb sunlight "all day long" and heat up the tubes, which heats up this closed system, which heats up the (probably pressurized) water in the coolant tank. When the sun sets, the hot water in the coolant tank evaporates and radiates up the pipes as heat, to escape through the roof (or be reabsorbed via another process). In other words, a closed system house- a house that's 72 degrees all by itself 365 days a year.
All of this is possible and very practical- only someone has to invent it.
PS- the energy source of this is a windmill, which is reliant on the Earth's orbit. In other words, "as long as the Earth spins, this system will work".
