America's Geothermal Breakthrough • Hacker News Board

Re: America's Geothermal Breakthrough

#181

Post by jgoewert » Tue, Apr 28, 2026, 3:03 PM UTC

applied_heat wrote: post #107

typon wrote: post #100

What is the point of building energy outside of solar farms? I'm sincerely asking

Night time? But batteries! Several cloudy days in a row? More batteries! Cost? -> a mix of sources becomes attractive

Batteries? You mean like digging a hole/making a wall and pumping water?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taum_Sauk_Hydroelectric_Power_...

Or we could just spin some rocks around.

https://www.torus.co/torus-flywheel

Rather have solar/wind and this than shipping depleting goop from foreign nations.

Re: America's Geothermal Breakthrough

#182

Post by jjtheblunt » Thu, Apr 30, 2026, 8:23 PM UTC

stephen_g wrote: post #176

zdragnar wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's insanely cheap compared to what we can get around here. Most installs I've heard of from people in the US are in the $20-50,000 range, depending on the size of their home and number of wells needed.

I don’t know what’s going on with this kind of stuff in the US - similarly I’ve heard stories of people getting quotes in the States for anything from US$10-15K for the kind of air source mini-split heat pumps you can have supplied and installed for US $1200-2000 in Australia! (That is ~3.5 to 7 kW range - super common and cheap as chips here).

Can't prove it, but it seems vendors collude in (very hot) Arizona on all sorts of necessities (plumbing, A/C, electricians). they all seem to know what each charges, and the prices seem not kept in check by any real competition.

Re: America's Geothermal Breakthrough

#183

Post by the_why_of_y » Sat, May 02, 2026, 7:36 AM UTC

nandomrumber wrote: post #175

the_why_of_y wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Moving the goalposts.

Well, has it been implemented? I found this https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/three-hours-free-power-every-... Which claims: This could save families up to $300 per year off their energy bills, and up to $1,070 if they have solar panels and batteries. Victoria’s Midday Power Saver offer will be available from 1 October 2026. Oh look, you may save more if you already have solar and batteries. Yet another wealth transfer…

Because it saves the have-nots 300 dollars a year, it's a transfer from the poor? Thank you for explaining, that was not obvious to me.