EGS Geothermal Power Potential for Alaska's Railbelt Energy Supply

 The state of Alaska could use reliable, affordable energy for the states rail-belt where most Alaskans live. Geothermal power seems to be that source. The state might look in to developing that rather than throwing money into a natural gas pipeline. Once the Iran conflict ends the world will return to being awash in natural gas supply. Burning it can also enable aggressive greenhouse gases to be released into the atmosphere. Methane is one-  it’s the primary component of natural gas and is 80 times worse than CO2 at trapping heat in the atmosphere. Burning natural gases releases CO2. 

I asked Grok about EGS for development in Alaska. Following is what it said in reply to my questions…

Grok– Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) are a promising technology that could potentially be developed in Alaska’s Railbelt, though it’s more about leveraging the state’s strong natural geothermal advantages near volcanic areas than pure “hot dry rock” EGS in non-volcanic zones.

Quick Overview of EGS

Conventional geothermal relies on natural hot water/steam reservoirs with heat, fluid, and permeability. EGS (sometimes called engineered or enhanced geothermal) creates or expands reservoirs in hot rock that lacks sufficient natural permeability or fluid by injecting water under controlled pressure to fracture the rock. This allows fluid to circulate, absorb heat, and return to the surface to drive turbines for electricity (or provide direct heat).

• It uses oil/gas industry tech like directional drilling and hydraulic stimulation.
• Potential: Baseload (24/7), low-carbon power almost anywhere with hot enough rocks at accessible depths. Recent U.S. projects (e.g., in Utah) are advancing toward commercial scale.
• Challenges: High upfront drilling costs, managing induced seismicity, water use/loss, and long-term reservoir performance (e.g., cooling over time).

Alaska’s Railbelt Context

Alaska’s Railbelt (roughly Anchorage to Fairbanks, serving ~70% of the state’s population) relies heavily on natural gas (Cook Inlet, with declining supplies) and some coal/hydro. Renewables like wind/solar are growing but intermittent, so firm baseload like geothermal is attractive for decarbonization and energy security.

Alaska has excellent geothermal fundamentals due to its position on the Pacific Ring of Fire:

• High heat flow/volcanic activity, especially in Southcentral Alaska near the Railbelt.
• Conventional hydrothermal resources exist, but EGS could expand access to hotter/deeper zones or areas without ideal natural reservoirs.

Specific Potential Near the Railbelt

• Mt. Spurr ( ~75 miles west of Anchorage): Strong focus for development. It’s an active volcano with identified potential for 50–120 MW (or more in phases). Proximity to the Railbelt grid (e.g., near Beluga) makes transmission feasible. Projects involve exploration, leases, and interest from companies like GeoAlaska/Ignis. Webinars and studies highlight it as “volcano power for the Railbelt.”
• Mt. Augustine (Cook Inlet island): Shallow magma chamber; potential for 200+ MW with subsea cable tie-in to the Railbelt. Seen as attractive for baseload.

These sites lean more toward high-temperature volcanic/hydrothermal systems (with magma influence providing heat), but EGS techniques could enhance them—e.g., by improving permeability in fractured volcanic rock or accessing deeper hot zones. Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys experts note that successful EGS (like in Utah) could open “vast” potential in magma-rich Alaska, even beyond obvious volcanic spots.

Other factors:

• Policy/Support: HB 50 and geothermal lease efforts aim to boost exploration. Studies (NREL, ACEP) evaluate geothermal in Railbelt decarbonization scenarios, though some note limited “identified viable resources” for conventional types so far.
• Challenges in Alaska: Remote logistics, high drilling costs in rugged/cold terrain, seismic risks (already high naturally), permitting, and grid integration. Permafrost and variable heat flow add complexity, but volcanic areas help.
• Upside: Baseload renewable to replace gas/coal, resilience for microgrids, and potential for direct-use heat.

Bottom line: Yes, EGS (or EGS-enhanced volcanic geothermal) is viable and actively discussed/explored for the Railbelt, especially at Spurr and Augustine. Conventional resources there are already promising, and EGS tech could scale it further. Progress depends on drilling results, PPAs with utilities, and infrastructure (roads/transmission). It’s not “anywhere” like ideal EGS, but Alaska’s geology gives it a big head start

A recent study (published April 2026 in Science) is unlikely to meaningfully change the geothermal power outlook—either at Yellowstone itself or more broadly for EGS/hydrothermal development. It refines the mechanism driving Yellowstone’s heat but doesn’t reduce the actual heat budget or accessibility in a way that hurts (or dramatically helps) energy production.

What the New Study Says

The paper challenges the classic deep mantle plume model (a vertical column of hot material rising from near the core-mantle boundary). Instead, it proposes:

• Magma/heat originates mainly in the shallow asthenosphere (upper mantle, just below the lithosphere).
• An eastward “mantle wind” (slow horizontal flow of hot mantle material, influenced by remnants of the ancient Farallon slab) carries buoyant material under Yellowstone.
• Tectonic stretching and decompression of the lithosphere create melting and form a tilted, channel-like plumbing system of magma mush (diffuse partially molten rock) rather than a single deep chamber.
• The system is driven more by lithospheric tectonics than a deep plume.

This aligns with other observations (e.g., no clear vertical plume imaged, southwest-dipping magma structures). It helps explain hazards and long-term behavior better but confirms Yellowstone still has abundant heat from mantle sources—just delivered via a different pathway.

Why It Probably Won’t Impact Geothermal Outlook Much

• Heat is heat: Geothermal power relies on high temperatures at drillable depths (typically <5–10 km for EGS). Whether the heat comes from a “plume” or tectonic decompression/mantle flow, the thermal gradient and shallow magma mush in Yellowstone remain exceptionally high. The study doesn’t suggest cooling or reduced flux.
• Yellowstone National Park itself: Development is banned by law (Geothermal Steam Act). The park protects its unique hydrothermal features. This study changes nothing there—drilling risks geysers/fumaroles regardless of the exact source model.
• Broader implications for EGS:
  • EGS works by fracturing hot dry rock and circulating fluid. A shallower/more diffuse source might even imply more widespread hot rock, potentially expanding viable areas around the Yellowstone hotspot track (e.g., Snake River Plain in Idaho).
  • Tectonic control emphasizes permeability and stress fields—key for siting EGS wells (fractures help fluid flow). This could refine exploration models but not deter investment.
  • No major shift in economics or feasibility. High heat flow in the region was already known; this is more academic refinement.

Real-world geothermal context near Yellowstone:

• The area has huge potential (enough in theory for massive power), but practical development happens outside the park in places like Idaho, Utah, or Nevada using conventional or EGS tech.
• Past ideas (e.g., NASA thought experiments on cooling the system for power) were hypothetical and faced huge technical/permit hurdles. This study doesn’t revive or kill them.

In short, it’s a cool advance in understanding supervolcano dynamics and hazard assessment, but it won’t redirect geothermal strategies. The Railbelt in Alaska (from our prior chat) benefits from its own volcanic/tectonic setting, which this doesn’t touch. If new drilling or modeling data emerges tying this directly to resource estimates, that could shift things slightly—but right now, it’s business as usual for geothermal prospectors.

Mt. Spurr (and similar Railbelt volcanoes like Augustine) likely features magma mush-style systems—broad zones of partially molten rock (crystal-rich “mush”) rather than a single large, liquid-filled chamber. This is consistent with modern understanding of arc volcanoes and aligns with the recent Yellowstone refinements, but it does not negatively change (and may slightly improve) EGS potential for powering the Railbelt.

Mt. Spurr’s Magmatic/Plumbing System

Seismic tomography and monitoring at Mt. Spurr show:

• No large, low-velocity “magma chamber” in the upper ~10 km (typical of classic models). Instead, there are zones of fluid/melt ascent, intrusions at 3–12+ km depths, and evidence of deeper magma supply.
• Recent unrest (e.g., 2004–2006, 2024–2025) involved magma intrusions causing seismicity, gas release, and summit ice melting—interpreted as new magma batches moving into shallower levels without a massive centralized reservoir.
• Like many subduction-zone (Aleutian arc) volcanoes, it fits the magma mush paradigm: diffuse, crystal-rich partially molten regions in the crust/upper mantle, fed by deeper melts. Volatiles and fluids rise through fractures, driving hydrothermal activity. This mirrors broader shifts away from “big blob” chambers toward networked, mushy systems (as refined in the Yellowstone study).

Similar patterns appear in other Alaska volcanoes (e.g., partial melt zones imaged elsewhere in arcs). The heat ultimately comes from mantle wedge melting + tectonic processes in the subduction setting—not a deep plume like the old Yellowstone model.

Implications for Geothermal & EGS at Spurr/Railbelt

This understanding helps rather than hurts development:

• Abundant heat without a classic reservoir: Geothermal relies on high temperatures at drillable depths. Mush zones provide widespread hot rock/fluid pathways. Hydrothermal fluids (already documented at Spurr with warm springs, fumaroles, and geothermometry hints of 200°C+ potential) are driven by these systems.
• EGS upside: Enhanced Geothermal Systems excel in hot, low-permeability rock by fracturing it for fluid circulation. A more distributed mush/partial-melt setup could mean broader hot-rock volumes around the volcano (not just pinpoint reservoirs). This expands targets beyond traditional hydrothermal spots. Alaska’s volcanic arc already has high heat flow; mush models reinforce that potential.
• No major downside: The Yellowstone paper refined sources/mechanisms but didn’t reduce heat budgets. Same here—Spurr’s active system (recent intrusions) confirms ongoing heat. Challenges remain practical: ice cover, terrain, mixed/diluted surface fluids, past dry holes (e.g., Ormat efforts), and costs for roads/transmission to the Railbelt grid.

Current outlook for Railbelt electrification:

• Spurr has long been eyed for 50–100+ MW (phased), with interest from companies like Ignis/GeoAlaska. Proximity (~75 miles from Anchorage, near Beluga) aids grid tie-in. Recent lease interest and webinars (e.g., 2026) show momentum.
• Combined with Augustine (subsea cable potential) and EGS advances, it could provide firm baseload to complement hydro/wind and offset declining Cook Inlet gas.
• Mush-style insights could refine siting (e.g., targeting fracture zones or deeper hot rock) via better geophysics, improving success rates.

Bottom line: The shift toward mush/plumbing models is evolutionary science that better explains these volcanoes—it supports sustained heat and potentially larger exploitable areas. It won’t revolutionize timelines (drilling, permitting, and economics are bigger hurdles), but it doesn’t dim prospects and may aid exploration modeling. Alaska’s Ring of Fire setting gives it a strong edge over non-volcanic EGS sites.

If new seismic or drilling data comes out tying this directly to resource estimates, it could be even more positive.

Solar Poweted Solar System Transport Energy Infrastructure

This is an idea I started writing about 30 years ago in science fiction stories. I published that idea a lot in the 90s and oos in science fiction and blogs, yet everyone loves chemical rockets and similar systems including ion drives.

   There was a subtle reason why Robert Goddard wanted federal funding to build an electromagnetic subway from NY to Boston in 1911. One could use use electro magnetic power to launch modules into space along a strait, 25 mile tube pointed at a slight mile up accelerating at an easy pace of 1000 miles per hour.  Modules need be heavily shielded from atmospheric friction. He was something of an American genius. Of course he was denied and developed to be credited as the founder of US rocket science.

ChatGPT makes it a lot easier to move it toward a more technical basis.

      The following is a response resulting from ChatGPT dialogues.

ChatGPT-

"Here’s a master, seamless reference combining your structured solar electromagnetic transport concepts with the science fiction layer:

---

Master Reference: Solar Electromagnetic Transport and Large-Scale Physics-Based Systems

1. Core Concept

Harness solar energy by capturing photons and converting them into usable electromagnetic (EM) power.

Use EM energy to create directed fields for propulsion or energy transport within the solar system and potentially for interstellar applications.

Avoid traditional mechanical “black box” technology, aiming for large-scale, natural, physics-driven systems.

---

2. Photon-to-EM Power Conversion

Capture solar photons efficiently.

Convert photons into a concentrated, controllable EM field.

Maximize energy retention (ideally near 99% conversion and containment efficiency).

---

3. Containment and Shaping of EM Fields

Explore methods to contain high-intensity EM fields or photons without significant loss.

Possible containment approaches:

Electromagnetic force: Use EM fields to confine and direct energy.

Gravitational effects: Investigate whether gravity or combined forces can help stabilize or focus EM fields.

Hybrid containment: Use a combination of EM and gravitational interactions for long-range field control.

Goal: Transform the EM field into a “purpose-directed” field for transportation or energy projection.

---

4. Directed EM Fields for Transport

EM fields or photon streams as propulsion or transport vectors (both intra-solar system and interstellar).

Conceptual parallel: artificial pulsars emitting controlled, directed beams.

Energy can be dynamically redirected or modulated for different purposes (e.g., spacecraft propulsion, interstellar signals).

---

5. Large-Scale, Natural System Paradigm

Move away from discrete mechanical devices and black-box engineering.

Focus on natural, scalable physics solutions operating over vast areas.

Key principles:

Economical to construct and maintain.

Minimize environmental disruption and material waste.

Leverage large-scale fields or naturally occurring forces rather than intricate machinery.

Dyson-sphere-inspired distributed approach:

Use smaller, modular units encircling the Sun to capture and direct energy.

Units act as coordinated field manipulators rather than independent machines.

---

6. Research and Conceptual Directions

Investigate advanced physics concepts for EM field containment and directional control at large scales.

Explore hybrid force interactions (EM + gravity + other forces) for field shaping

Model energy capture and conversion efficiency of modular solar collector units.

Conceptual simulations of large-scale field-directed propulsion or energy transfer.

Consider “phase” approaches: transitioning naturally occurring energy fields into dedicated, directed forms for practical applications.

---

7. Overarching Paradigm

Vision: continuum of energy transport and propulsion systems:

1. Solar photons → EM energy

2. EM containment and shaping

3. Directed transport fields for propulsion

4. Natural, physics-driven, scalable infrastructure

Focus on conceptual clarity, scalability, and ecological sustainability.

Applications span solar system transport to interstellar propulsion.

---

8. Science Fiction Conceptual Layer: Advanced EM Transport

8.1 Interstellar Field Networks

Networks of EM energy conduits extending through the solar system and beyond.

Modular field units coordinate like a distributed lattice around the Sun, forming dynamic “energy highways.”

Units can shift phase states to redirect energy instantly, creating adaptable pathways.

8.2 Artificial Pulsar Beams

Concentrated photon-to-EM conversion creates pulsar-like beams.

Beams serve multiple purposes: propulsion, long-range communication, directed energy transmission.

Containment fields maintain beam coherence and intensity over vast distances.

8.3 Gravity-Assisted EM Containment

Hybrid EM + gravitational field shaping.

Local gravitational wells or artificial mass distributions help focus and stabilize EM streams.

Enables near-lossless containment and long-range direction of highly energetic fields.

8.4 Field-Based Phase Transitions

“Phase transitions” of energy fields allow dynamic adaptation:

Shifting ambient EM energy into directed propulsion fields.

Changing field shape or density for specific tasks.

Removes the need for complex machinery while enabling adaptable, large-scale energy manipulation.

8.5 Distributed Dyson-Inspired Units

Smaller, coordinated units instead of a full Dyson sphere.

Each unit functions as a field manipulator or photon collector.

Collective behavior enables adaptive energy capture, containment, and redirection on a solar-system scale.

Emphasizes modularity, redundancy, and natural scalability.

8.6 Conceptual Benefits

Economical & clean: minimal reliance on conventional materials or polluting manufacturing.

Scalable: easily expands across solar system and interstellar distances.

Flexible: units and fields can shift purpose without physical reconfiguration.

Science-fiction realism: rooted in advanced physics concepts while allowing imaginative extrapolation.

8.7 Potential Research Directions

Simulate field interactions at solar-system scale.

Explore energy retention and beam coherence over interstellar distances.

Investigate hybrid force applications (EM, gravitational, possibly exotic fields).

Conceptual design of modular field units capable of self-organization and adaptation.

Examine emergent behaviors of large distributed EM networks.

---

This master reference now captures:

Practical solar EM transport ideas

Large-scale, natural, non-mechanical paradigms

Advanced science-fiction extensions into interstellar transport"

---

President Trump Applies Retardent on U.S. Energy Development, Diversification and Competitiveness

 President Trump's spin to terminate offshore wind power, electric vehicles, solar and battery development means the nation will lag behind intelligent Chinese competition to dominate the world energy production and sales market. Offshore wind farm development was set to produce 56,000 jobs by 2030. 

Poor trade relations with the BRIC nation also means the U.S.A. will not only be retarded in developing product, it will also lose market share to the majority of the world's population in the developing nations. A prevailing selection of the primary form of energy mode should be made with ecological criteria as well as economic, rather than simply economic reasons when possible.

That is a predictable course of events historically. The BRIC nations with the exception of Russia haven't so much economic establishment based on old infrastructure and are not reluctant to take up new technology to comprise their own economic development. Russia has a new form of government- fewer than 50 years old, so its economic infrastructure is similar to that of other BRIC nations in not having long-established concentrated wealth existing to retard domestic and international economic change.

The late historian Arnold Toynbee observed that changing the domestic form of economic is a task that is the most challenging to established civilizations. They neither change their form of government or economic establishment and thus eventually fail to be competitive with newer, emerging societies.

https://gcaptain.com/trumps-wind-farm-halts-threatens-jobs-support-of-blue-collar-workers/

Oil is the old establishment President Trump champions. Fossil fuel exhausts are dangerous for global health and costly, while the price of solar panels is dropping. Producing electricity at home off grid is the likely future for the majority of Americans if they survive the lunacy of nuclear war and global warming risks presented through the retarded leadership of the U.S. Government executive branch for several terms consecutively.

A Chinese company has developed sodium batteries at ten percent of the cost of lithium batteries that may change the world's energy storage, and the Chinese are also the leading developer of solar panels useful for many reasons in the sunny global warming era. Wind farms offshore will never produce oil spills like that of the Deep Water Horizon explosion in 2010 that devastated the Gulf of America shoreline. If the Ukraine war has proven anything it is that oil production facilities are among the first targets of conflicts. Offshore American oil facilities will be targeted in any future war if humans survive the initial attacks from biological vectors not detected by a gutted CDC.

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5477116-cdc-leadership-crisis-public-health/

Chinese Leadership May be Smarter on Space Exploration, Energy Development and Environment than the West's

Recent analysis have discovered that China is surpassing the United States in the development of power required to support the needs of artificial intelligence development. It has also developed a practical engineering approach to developing lunar rockets and colonization. That is a result of the United States having forgotten how to get things done on large scale projects, besides piling up public debt at which the nation excels, since the last Apollo moon landing,

China is on schedule to start building a moon base by 2030 and may be the first to develop artificial general intelligence- surpassing the combined intelligence of all of humanity.

Because the Democrat Party is corrupt it doesn’t get things done. It would fund day care instead of environmental remediation, and flood the nation with illegal workers getting paid under the table to support the economy of Democrat voters. Government cannot substitute for good wages and union negotiations for employer provided day care. The Republican Party is too interested in corporate profit and tax cuts to lead an intelligent political Risorgimento for the U.S.A. like nation runs risks similar to those of the late Roman Empire of failing through too much focus on investments abroad, lack of political cohesion and leadership and other nations maturing militarily and economically beyond the criterion of the healthy political economy of Rome. It did not help when the capital was moved abroad to Constantinople.

The United States has far fewer engineers than China. Because China can coordinate teamwork in larger numbers better than the United States, which is overly focused on entertainment and consumerism, it can create a web of space science supporting industry, while the United States cuts the N.A.S.A. budget and hired a Lysenko to lead the Department of Health.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3DMeC-HOtg&t=647s Chinese Space Program

I have advocated a few policies over the years to renew the national energy grid, to develop electro-magnetic accelerators to launch space ships to orbit and to build electro-magnetic accelerators on the moon and in space to accelerate space-ships on vectors around the solar system. Robert Goddard if living and funded would have accomplished that by the age of 130 or less I would guess.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS0jM8mlAw0  China's A.I. Developments in a desert

Scientific American published an article decades ago about build a super-conducting power line across the nation within liquid hydrogen filled pipelines. Solar and wind power as well as nuclear power could be added to the line that could be buried below interstate highways. That would go a long way toward solving the problem of a clean power grid that is suitable for the present need for power. Plainly though, super-cooling of super-conductors will be easy at a moon base, so it is likely that lunar development would catalyze the rise of artificial general intelligence with easy super-conduction. The nation requires leadership on the challenges presented for power, super-conduction and artificial general intelligence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5Mzwd1iw7U Chinese Energy Grid and A.I.

 Few politicians have good sense about the global environmental challenges to day and the way a transformation to a sustainable economic based in environmental economic principles is required to sustain human rather than artificial life on Earth. One might hope for a leader able to walk and chew gum at the same time, yet such hopes are never fulfilled. Perhaps the greatest challenge for the United States is how to engineer a President and Congress that can realistically address those major challenges of a new energy grid, a better, more effective space transport technology, making water through evaporation on condensation on a vast scale in canals along the Mexican border, adapting the economy to harmony with the requirements for a healthy and even thriving global ecosphere without ongoing atmospheric heating and mass species extinction, securing the nation’s borders, structuring universal basic income for all citizens to allow realistic adaptation to challenges of occupational obsolescence and exploitation by corrupt industries and actors of capitalism in the effort to renew the United States as a great, leading, beneficial nation able to compete successfully in economics with China in the future.

China has an interesting AI problem of success putting people out of work.  With 800-900 million workers needing a basic income to stay alive the challenges for development of relevant occupations for humans in the new economy of AI and robots within a competitive global economy will be interesting to observe; can they get it right the first time?

President Trump has worked with moderate success on two important goals; one to secure the borders and secondly to end the Ukraine war. The west investing time. Thought and budget in the absolutely useless distraction of the Ukraine war instead of responding to the challenges mentioned above is doing it’s best to let China be the smart nation and the West the stupid political entity.

In the ideal, democracy would have brilliant public service motivated grass roots citizens littering cities and rural copses solving the nation's challenges. Unfortunately corporatism has made minions of the masses and they select from political column A or B. In the decadent era of the Byzantine Empire there were chariot racing fans that wore colors as Bloods and Crips did in the 80s. They fought like soccer hooligans; greens versus blues and reds. They even became political. The Byzantine Empire's decline and fall went on for hundreds of years. They had very few writers or philosophers, yet a surfeit of Icon painters in monasteries and elsewhere until they divided over that too in a battle with iconoclasts.

https://suno.com/s/lynLapWoX24Xbstm Cai Su Right (a song)

Ado About E=mc²

Interesting to consider. Energy is the measure of how much work rest mass has if converted to kinetic energy. It can’t be created or destroyed because it’s a measure of a property of mass. A rest mass’  potential energy is E = mc2. In fusion explosions .07% of mass is converted into other forms and mass is reduced that much.

If through some unknown mechanism all mass and dark matter- if that exists, were converted into photons the energy of each particle probably would lose energy as each travelled infinitely in the void. Eventually they may cease to exist or alternatively be absorbed by space-time  if that field exists, when it has no mass in it.