Google Gets Behind Geothermal, Invests Over $10 Million in Research
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY 
on 08.19.08
Geothermal energy is probably the greatest potential renewable energy source with the least amount of public awareness. It certainly spends much less time in the public gaze than wind, solar or biofuels. Recently the US Department of Energy announced in was investing $90-million in order to shine a spotlight on geothermal. Now Google is getting into the geothermal funding act.
2% of Geothermal Potential = 2500 Times Current Demand
Through its philanthropic arm, Google.org, and as part of its Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal initiative, Google will be investing nearly $10.5 million into three projects researching advanced geothermal power. The technology Google is betting on is known as Enhanced Geothermal Systems. MIT estimates that, using EGS, just 2% of the heat below the United States at depths of 3-10 kilometers would be supply 2500 times the nation’s current energy needs.
Google touts the benefits of EGS
EGS expands the potential of geothermal energy by orders of magnitude. The traditional geothermal approach relies on finding naturally occurring pockets of steam and hot water. The EGS process, by comparison, replicates these conditions by fracturing hot rock, circulating water through the system, and using the resulting steam to produce electricity in a conventional turbine.
More on EGS from Google: A Googol of Heat Beneath Our Feet
Three Projects Receive Funding
Two companies and a university will divvy up the funds:
AltaRock Energy will receive $6.25 million to research reducing the cost of EGS and improving its performance. Potter Drilling will receive $4 million to research lowering the cost and expanding the range of deep hard rock drilling. Southern Methodist University Geothermal Lab will receive $490,000 to study the size and distribution of geothermal resources and update geothermal mapping in North America.
via :: Business Wire
Geothermal Power
US Department of Energy to Invest $90 Million in Advanced Geothermal Research
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The most readily available heat is in the most seismically active areas. If you cool these areas in an uneven pattern, you could increase seismic activity?
Nothing is free.
I've read about this geothermal potential with EGS before, about a year ago. This seems like the very best way to become energy independent. It's a shame that our government doesn't get behind this. Seems better then all the other alternatives.
How am I to trust the authenticity of an article if the writer didn't even take the time to proof read it. It sounds like a 10 year old wrote it.
To Author: Please check your blog posts for grammatical errors and typos before posting. It makes blogging look amateur.
...and also in the news today, interestingly enough:
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24212711-29277,00.html
The gist:
HOT rocks electricity is touted as the latest solution to climate change - and Australia could have its first super-hot power plant within four years.
Federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson today launched the government's $50 million hot rocks fund, first announced two months ago.
"Geothermal energy provides clean base-load power and is potentially a very important contributor to Australia's energy mix,'' he said as he launched the fund in Melbourne today.
"We could now see Australia's first commercially viable geothermal power plants in place within four to five years.''
I've seen estimates of the world's geothermal capacity that vary over many orders of magnitude. Wikipedia tells me that we could extract perhaps 23 terrawatts sustainably, globally.
The information in this article indicates that the capacity just in the US (electricity demand ~ 500 gigawatts) to be 62.5 petawatts. Unless, of course, they are talking about geothermal energy as a non-renewable resource (removing heat faster than it replenishes itself). In that case their capacity numbers might make sense, but we also couldn't talk about that kind of geothermal as a renewable resource, Plentiful and clean, yes, but no more renewable on a human timescale than fossil fuels.
If they are talking about total stored energy, and not the rate at which heat can be sustainably extracted, then that 2500x @ 2% figure is hard to interpret. Is that a multiple of our energy consumption in a century? A decade? A year? A week? If I had all the world's coal stockpiled in my backyard, I could say it would provide one hundred million times the world's power demands... and leave out the caveat, "For a few minutes."
I've seen estimates of the world's geothermal capacity that vary over many orders of magnitude. Wikipedia tells me that we could extract perhaps 23 terrawatts sustainably, globally.
The information in this article indicates that the capacity just in the US (electricity demand ~ 500 gigawatts) to be 62.5 petawatts. Unless, of course, they are talking about geothermal energy as a non-renewable resource (removing heat faster than it replenishes itself). In that case their capacity numbers might make sense, but we also couldn't talk about that kind of geothermal as a renewable resource, Plentiful and clean, yes, but no more renewable on a human timescale than fossil fuels.
If they are talking about total stored energy, and not the rate at which heat can be sustainably extracted, then that 2500x @ 2% figure is hard to interpret. Is that a multiple of our energy consumption in a century? A decade? A year? A week? If I had all the world's coal stockpiled in my backyard, I could say it would provide one hundred million times the world's power demands... and leave out the caveat, "For a few minutes."
Geothermal is renewable???
Please explain.