Integrating energy production and energy consumption to produce a total energy system within an energy industrial center which would result in more power production from a given energy source and less pollution of the environment is discussed. Strong governmental support would be required for the crash drilling program necessary to implement these concepts. Cooperation among the federal agencies, power producers, and private industry would be essential in avoiding redundant and fruitless projects, and in exploiting most efficiently our geothermal resources

Bayliss, B. P.

English

NASA Technical Reports Server

N75 2 0 8 6 0  
COMBINING TOTAL ENERGY AND ENERGY INDUSTRIAL 
CENTER CONCEPTS TO INCREASE UTILIZATION 
EFFICIENCY O F  GEOTHERMAL ENERGY 
B.P. Bayliss 
Lloyd Corporation and Magma Energy, Incorporated 
Los Angeles, California 
Integrating energy production and energy consumption to 
produce a total energy system within an energy industrial center 
woulbresult  in more power production from a given energy source 
and less  pollution of the environment. 
would be required for  the crash drilling program necessary to 
implement these concepts. 
power producers, and private industry would be essential in avoid- 
ing redundant and fruitless projects, and in exploiting most effi- 
ciently our geothermal resources. 
Strong governmental support 
Cooperation among the federal agencies, 
I. INTRODUCTION 
The United States and indeed the World is in deep trouble these days on a 
number of fronts. 
and consumption. 
seeds of a demoralizing and humiliating decline, in mankind's vaunted "ever 
onward and upward" climb towards its ultimate s t a r  of destiny. 
In the forefront i s  the projected gap between energy supply 
This i s  a frightful gap to behold and one which holds the 
It is required that advances be made on two fronts - first we must 
increase our energy output some orders of magnitude by augmenting known 
means and creating new means of supplying additional energy. 
A second imperative is to utilize, in the  most efficient way, that geo- 
thermal energy which is made available for power generation. 
II. NEAR-SITE ENERGY CONSUMPTION 
The very organization responsible for this Conference, The National 
Science Foundation, also sponsors an Industrial Center Study, managed by 
Dow. It concerns itself with, among other things, two fundamental considera- 
tions of energy utilization efficiency. First is the advantage of physical place- 
ment of the industrial consumer of electricity (chemical plants for example) 
close to the origin of production (a geothermal plant for example). 
the utilization of exhaust steam from turbines for industrial process use. 
Under this system, industrial boilers a r e  eliminated and the needs for cooling 
towers, .condensers o r  cooling ponds to dispose of heat is reduced. 
Second is 
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Of course, these economies have another inherent advantage: - with more 
power being produced from a given energy source, less environmental pollution 
will result! 
The author applauds NSF authorization and sponsorship of this study, 
originally submitted to it by Governor Milliken's Michigan Special Commission 
on Energy. 
III. TOTAL ENERGY CONCEPT 
To car ry  the foregoing Energy Industrial Center Study one step further, 
the author believes the Total Energy system concept could be applied here. 
Mr. Fred Dubin, head of a New Y o r k  consultant f irm states in his art icle 
"Total Energy Systems and the Environment"; 
"Integrating systems may become an important factor in conserving 
the nations natural resources. 
result from this concept. In this "systems" approach conversion of 
fuels (including geothermal fluids) to electric power i s  only one seg- 
ment of the system. The transmission and distribution systems and 
the utilization of "thermal waste" a r e  important factors. Design of 
end-use facilities, marriage of sewage treatment plants with solid 
waste disposal systems, integrating lighting systems with heating 
and cooling systems, design of exhaust-air systems and fresh a i r  
intake systems to permit energy transfer to take place, a r e  only a 
few examples of the "Total Energy approach. ' I  
Spectacular savings in energy can 
Total Energy has been called an energy-recovery system using the waste 
heat from the generation of electricity. Of course, i t  is more than this. A 
total resource system certainly offers significant opportunities for  conservation 
of energy and does require the coordinated effort and understanding of all dis- 
ciplines, 
use of new methods and systems without sacrificing safety, is  badly needed. 
Revising rigidly inflexible municipal codes for example, to permit 
It is believed that Federal and State studies to implement the Total Energy 
concept would be money and time well spent. 
Geothermal Energy Industry could participate in and benefit from such a basic 
c once p t . 
It is easy to visualize how the 
Still on the broad subject of energy efficiency the question is posed: Can 
Federal programs aid in the research of means to increase cycle efficiency 
(heat rate) in geothermal power plants and implement usage of resulting 
improvements with the steam utility companies? Is  there any possible way to 
beneficially increase the enthalpy of the natural steam entering the plant for  a 
net increase in kW output of the plant o r  is this an impossibility like per- 
petual motion o r  bootstrap lifting? 
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IV. GOVERNMENTAL ASSISTANCE 
The author read with a great deal of interest Dr .  John D. Ridge's idea 
that he presented a t  USGS symposium during the recent dedication of its 
National Center a t  Reston, Va. He proposes a cross-country checkerboarding 
of the conterminous U. S. with 7500 wells on 20 mile centers, each 15,000 feet 
deep, to "uncover $750 billion of recoverable raw materials at a project cost 
of $3 billion. I '  The entire oil industry drills annually in this country about 
25,000 to 30,000 wells for oil and gas a t  an average depth of just under 
5,000 feet. 
oil well drilling for 20 years  and even though the drilling program that Dr .  Ridge 
advances is  manifestly impractical, the idea behind his idea i s  quite pertinent 
and practical. He i s  an advocate of direct field exploration. As a recommenda- 
tion change the depth to 2500 feet; the spacing between wells to one mile; be 
selective a s  to the a reas  approved for checkerboarding - generous, but selec- 
tive =-; and his idea could then be considered a s  an intelligent, direct-type of 
practical exploratory action having an honest chance of paying handsome 
dividends. 
But they do it selectively. The author has been involved in deep 
As to othgr assistance that Governmental agencies could render the pri-  
vate sector of the geothermal energy industry perhaps number one would be 
assistance in the environmental fight: As it now stands, compliance with full 
detailed environmental requirements has the effect of seriously delaying the 
contributions of geothermal to  the energy shortage and of greatly increasing 
costs. Mr. Aidlin discusses this problem: 
"To determine the extent of readily useable geothermal energy a s  
quickly a s  possible I suggest the following: 
Permi t  through 1975 the drilling of an exploratory well and not 
more than two confirmation wells in any area,  without requiring 
compliance with full, detailed environmental requirements. It 
seems unrealistic that expensive, time consuming effort be 
devoted to environmental studies and reports before it is even 
known whether or  not the resource will be found in economically 
useable quantity or  kind. 
If a useable geothermal energy resource is found, then the 
requirement for more detailed environmental studies may be 
made applicable, i f  the community deems that desirable. 
If the developer is unable o r  unwilling to conform to appropri- 
ate environmental constraint for further development, he 
should be permitted to surrender o r  abandon the project and 
to write off a s  a loss two t imes the entire cost of the project. 
The reason for permitting the loss write off is to encourage 
the developer to take the r i s k  of the initial geothermal well o r  
wells to determine the presence of the resource rather than 
to spend his capital in other less risky pursuits. 
The developer desiring to operate under this program should, of 
course, be required to disclose pertinent data to the appropriate 
governmental agency concerned with energy planning. 
327 
This program will require, strong government support to make 
available the casing, equipment, drilling rigs and other materials required 
for a crash drilling program. 
It has the advantage of permitting rapid drilling of presently known prom-. 
ising areas ,  so that the energy planners will know what they can count on; and 
while it bypasses stringent, time-consuming environmental requirements on a 
temporary basis it does not supersede them. I '  
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The appropriate federal agencies could also help stimulate development 
by incentives a s  set  forth by Mr .  Aidlin: 
"For this program to produce greater results it will be necessary 
also that the Internal Revenue Service reverse i ts  present policy 
which clearly discriminates against geothermal resources and 
unnecessarily and unreasonably impedes i ts  development. 
Additionally, the Bureau of Land Management will have to adopt 
policies which better accord to the wildcatter the fruits of his effort 
and r i sk .  
but does not have enough land around it to make the investment 
economically sound, if the adjoining land is federal land, the BLM 
should make available a reasonable amount of its land for  lease to 
the wildcatter, if his well develops a viable geothermal resource. ' I  
To accelerate utilization of geothermal resources in generation of elec- 
If an operator is willing to test  an a rea  a t  his  expense 
t r i c  power, Mr.. Aidlin suggests the following: 
"In order to demonstrate the economic and mechanical viability of 
the binary cycle, electric generating system, which system is 
generally accepted a s  the only readily available and most likely to 
succeed, the Federal  government, through one or more of its 
agencies, should guarantee loans for construction of two or  more 
small capacity binary cycle plants - that is, from approximately 
1 0  to 50 megawatts capacity - to generate and sell  electricity on a 
commercial basis. 
utilities that such plants a r e  economically and technologically 
sound. 
kind of operational and economic information that cannot be 
obtained in the laboratory. 
If such plants operate profitably there will have been no cost to the 
government, and the technology will have been demonstrated. 
they do not operate profitably, information will be gained which 
may correct e r r o r s  o r  technological defects. 
The purpose would be to demonstrate to the 
Such plants in commercial operation would provide the 
If 
By guaranteeing such loans the government will have enabled the 
utility to proceed with power generation without first  assuring itself 
of the life and extent of the resource reservoir beyond its ability 
under present technology to do. 
oping better reservoir analysis and measuring techniques, we will 
be generating electric power fo r  use. I '  
In other words, while we a r e  devel- 
328 
V. ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS 
Although the final su 
it is offered with no apolo 
pertinent . 
Bureaucratic programs, e 
become "ivory tower, ' I  unrealistic programs d 
known technology. Since the funds don't belong to a specific individual or  Cor- 
poration, they seem to belong to no one and a r e  dissipated with little feeling of 
personal accountability. That's human nature I 'm afraid. 
Some programs a r e  purposeless or  their purpose is vague, obscure or 
misses  the mark. 
redo what has already been accomplished. 
Other extensive and expensive programs simply attempt to 
Once again Mr. Aidlin, in a letter to Dr .  Dixie Lee Ray, Chairman of 
the U. S. A. E. 6. states his thoughts this way; 
"Frankly I believe that the program to develop and utilize geothermal 
energy has been complicated too much. 
What is involved is: 
It really i s  quite simple. 
Exploration and development of geothermal resources. A num- 
ber of a reas  have already been explored and discovered. There 
a r e  adequate fluids in these a reas  to supply the needs for proto- 
type plants. 
The proof of technology which is immediately available before 
spending a great deal of money and attempting to develop 
advanced technology. 
no technical question a s  to the viability of the binary cycle. 
Whether it is a s  efficient a s  some other variation can be 
determined a t  a later date. E we a r e  to determine the extent 
of our energy self-sufficiency by the year 1985, it is impor- 
tant to utilize the tools a t  hand. 
In this connection there appears to  be 
Obtaining a better knowledge of the resource itself. 
connection the drilling of a deep well at the Geysers, another 
in Imperial Valley, and another in the Gulf Coast a rea  (the 
first two being proven a reas )  would certainly give us a t re-  
mendous amount of knowledge as to the character of the 
re source . 
In this 
Facilitating the more rapid drilling of various promising 
areas to get an idea of how much of the resources can be 
depended upon immediately. 
financial assistance and also by removing the impediments 
which exist today in connection with the exploration opera- 
tions. I have always considered it quite illogical to spend a 
great deal of time, effort and money worrying about envi- 
ronmental effects of the discovery of geothermal resources 
This could be accomplished by 
329 
in an a rea  before the f i rs t  well is drilled to determine whether 
o r  not the resource actually exists. 
a simple program of permitting limited exploration, without 
the bureaucratic impediments, to determine the presence of 
the resource and then applying the environmental factors 
after the character of the resource is known is a much more 
sensible approach. 
It would seem to me that 
I truly believe that i f  we a r e  to get the best out of the superb research 
talents of the federal agencies, it is necessary that the projects be scrutinized, 
on a more practical basis before they a r e  undertaken. It is also essential that 
the private sector be more closely involved and that to accomplish this, the 
applicable conditions for private involvement be framed so a s  to meet the 
legitimate needs and requirements of private industry. " 
Perhaps our industry's slogan should be: "Our energy needs a r e  great. 
The hour is late. All sectors should cooperate. " 
330 


Combining total energy and energy industrial center concepts to increase utilization efficiency of geothermal energy

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