University Daily Kansan
Tuesday, March 19. 1974
3
---
Steam from Inner Earth Might Ease Energy Crisis
By BYRON MYERS
steam generated below the earth's surface is a possible source of electricity which could replace petroleum products and force them for other uses.
William P. Smith, dean of the School of Engineering, said recently that two methods of obtaining this steam could be used. Either natural geothermal heat, in the
form of steam escaping from the ground,
could be harnessed; or water could be
pumped into the earth's granite
basement, which is heated by the earth's
warm air.
The water pumped into the hot rock area would be introduced by sinking a well and pumping in cold water under high pressure. The resultant steam would be retrieved by a
second well drilled close to the first through which the steam would escape, Smith said.
"You would, in effect, be building an underground boiler," Smith said. "After the steam is brought to the surface it might have to be cleaned so that it could be used in turbines to generate electricity, or it could be used to provide homes for heating and air conditioning."
Windmills Source of Cheap Power
By BYRON MYERS Kansan Staff Reporter
There is a saying among Kansas stockman who depend on windrills to pump water: "If the wind doesn't blow, the cows don't drink."
National Aeronautics and Space Administration officials are now looking into the possibility of using windmills to add to air pressure in small towns and isolated areas that require fossil fuels to drive generators, William P. Smith, dean of the School of
Smith said NASA was looking for areas where wind velocity was high and fuel expensive. He cited Alaska and Puerto Rico as examples.
"Puerto Rico to import 100 per cent of its fuel, so the Puerto Rican government has asked NASA for help in windmill installation," Smith said.
Utility companies will furnish the sites for the windmills, he said, and NASA will furnish generators and the equipment to generate generated electricity in with existing facilities.
The use of windmills to generate electricity on a small scale has been commonplace in Kansas for the past forty years, but each windmill was intended to furnish power only to one farm. Windmills designed to generate electricity in large quantities would be larger than those on Kansas farms.
Board of Regents Grants Building Alteration Funds
By STEVE FRY
KANAS CITY, Kan.-The Kansas Board of Regents allocated $22,200 Friday to the University of Kansas for three projects to build an ample space in classroom or office area.
The first project is the conversion of the basement level of Twente Hall (formerly Watkins Hospital) into a permanent class-laboratory area for the department of occupational therapy. The estimated cost is $10,000.
The second project is the alteration of vacant space in Lindley Anex into a class-studio for weaving. The estimated cost is $6,000.
The third project is the conversion of the west portion of Broadcasting Hall into a silversmithing studio at an estimated cost of $6,200.
The second and third projects will be to studios until the new visual arts facility is built.
All three projects will be funded by appropriations from the "other operating company."
The regents also voted to change a physician's group at the University of Kansas Medical Center from a corporation into a not-for-profit public foundation. The organization, Associates in Gynecology and Obstetrics, will become a foundation upon approval by a ruling by ATY, Gern Miller on a legal technically involved in the change.
Smith said an experimental program at Plumbrook, Ohio, near Sandusky, used a two-bladed metal propeller 125 feet in diameter, mounted on a tower 150 feet tall. The propellor drove a 100 kilowatt generator, he said.
Not-for-profit foundation status means more public involvement because the lay public would be eligible as members. Dr. William Rieke, executive vice chancellor of the Medical Center, said Friday. The foundation will be more accountable to the public because its lay members will help determine the foundation budget. Rieke said.
"This means of generation could be applicable to units in small towns," he said. "If the total demand for electricity is 2,000 kilowatts a day,100 kilowatts is a fair chuck."
The not-for-profit standing of the foundation will also give the group a tax exempt status, said Dr. Kerrit E. Krantz, chairwoman of the department of gynecology and obstetrics.
The regents also voted to raise the Medical Center's out-of-state travel expense limitation by $5,000. The expense fund is now $45,555.
"If the wind blows from one direction a good share of the time, you could put a number of windmills in a line perpendicular to the wind so that they can put them in a line that ran parallel to the wind, the wake a windmill causes would damage the performance of windmills in that direction."
Smith suggested windmills might be useful in small communities like Tonganoxie, or small towns in the western United States that receive strong winds from the west.
"Managers of power plants say they must build plants that would use fossil fuels or nuclear energy for electrical generation." Smith said. "We can get more of the same types of power plants we have now or we can institute that machines will just like the ones we have."
He said the cost of coal might run from $7 to possibly $10 to $30 a ton, depending upon the type of mining and the distance between the mine and the purchaser.
"Fossil fuels will always cost money, and the price is likely to keep going up," Smith said.
"The advantage of using it directly is that it's 80 to 90 per cent efficient. If it's used for generating electricity it's only about 20 per cent efficient, and that's wasted heat."
Smith said there was a plant for harnessing geothermal heat north of San Francisco.
in brief
Rabies Info Needed
A large black sheepdog that bit a man riding a bicycle last Tuesday is being sought to determine whether it has been vaccinated for rabies.
The incident occurred about 9:30 a.m. on Kentucky Street in front of St. John's Church.
A couple was walking with the dog. They are called to call 821-6518, if there is no dog.
If the dog isn't found this week, the man will have to take a series of raid shots.
The University of Kansas has received a $100,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.
$100,000 Givento KU
The grant will fund a program to apply satellite remote sensing to land management and environmental programs in local, state and regional areas.
The grant represents a continuation of US participation in the earth resources benefits program.
NSF Grant Awarded
Raymond Amarur and Robert Stump,
professors of physics and astrology, have received a $50,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.
The grant will fund a study of the in-
testion of subatomic particles using
bubble chamber techniques.
enough electricity for a city with a population of 400,000.
"Ireland also uses geothermal energy." Smith said. "Instead of having gas lines in the house, we use hot water line that heats the house by steam." Smith said geothermal field excavated in the basement of a building was used for the waterline.
Tuesday Nights 15% Off Total Bill
“Another hot spot is located near Bute, Montana,” Smith said. “Firms looking to develop this resource are looking for unusually hot water, and at this spot the water is hotter and close to the ground surface than it is in many other areas.”
The Atomic Energy Commission is working in New Mexico on a fracturing system for producing steam, Smith said. A well has been sunk at the rim of Jemez County, where it will be in an attempt to fracture hard, dry rock 6,000 feet below the earth's surface, he said.
"If this project works, you can do it anywhere as long as you're prepared to drill well."
Smith said this might mean drilling wells from 15,000 to 30,000 feet deep.
944 Massachusetts
Smith said the applicability of geothermal heating in Kansas was uncertaint.
"We don't have much positive information about temperatures at the depths we'll have to drill to," he said. "If you draw a circle and fill in it with water, complete a triangle using the state's borders, you'll find hot rock closer to the surface than anywhere else in Kansas. You could expect to drill at least 10,000 feet and discover an underground lake, but there is no guarantee on that."
ITALIAN CAFFE
Smith said the purpose of the Jenzer Caldera experiment was to determine the
"There are no proven hot spots in Kansas," he said. "We've never had any inclination or encouragement to look into temperatures at that depth."
Angino said he thought geothermal heating of water might have a limited potential in Kansas, but he did not think it could be used throughout the state.
S锌 said he thought the coat of drilling a deep well to hit hot rock might be IRR.
"An article in a recent edition of 'Oil and Gas Journal' gave a $250,000 cost figure for drilling a hole 30,000 feet deep," he said. "This doesn't take into account the cost of drilling into granite. The total cost for drilling could be $500,000 or more."
Owen T. Spitz, petroleum resources engineer for the Kansas Geological Survey, said he thought the potential for geothermal energy in Kansas was "rather nebulous."
"A success on this project would prompt more and better information gathering," he said. "We don't really know if the idea is good or not." In fact, we have some data, we don't have enough."
reliability of fracturing hot rock and pumping water into it for recovery.
Ernest Angino, professor of geology and civil engineering, said he thought the Jemzé Caldera project had and excellent chance for success.
"We won't see more exploration for hot rock until it can be shown that the scheme is working."
Spitz said he thought geothermal energy development might be practical in areas in the western and northwestern portions of the country that have hot rock close to the surface.
AT THE CHANNEL SIX
BOOB-TUBE BIJOU
Wednesday 8:00
Saturday
12 midnight
1 & #2
No. 1—MOTHER WORE TIGHTS (1947)
with Betty Grable and Dan Daley
No. 2—KING AND COUNTRY (1965)
with Tom Courtney
plus Part III of Federal Operator 99
and The Return of Captain America
ONLY ON CHANNEL 6
SUNFLOWER
CABLEVISION
841-2100
SPRING BOOK SALE MARCH 18-MARCH 29
RABBIT REDUX Published at 7$^ {15}$ only 1$^{00}$
TOUCH THE EARTH
composed by F. L. Miller
TOUCH THE EARTH
Published at 6°
only 2°
SPORTS GREATS Published at 7" only 2"
COMPLETE GUIDE TO GARDEN FLOWERS Published at 12° only $^{5^{\circ}}$
PICTORIAL HISTORY OF HORROR MOVIES Special Value at 4 $^{98}$
FILLE DE JOIE Published at 25° only $9^{rd}$
COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Special Value at 298
... AND MANY, MANY OTHERS
HAND AND THE HOROSCOPE Special Value at 5°