geothermal energy

Wind and geothermal power have generated a lot of buzz. Government research and development funding to boost them? Not so much.

That's unfortunate, because these clean energy technologies have exhibited far higher cost efficiency than fossil fuels, a new report from the NYU Stern School of Business says.

"Renewable energy sources (particularly wind and geothermal) have been significantly underfunded relative to their potential payoffs," the authors write.

The potential payoffs would be huge, with major climatic impacts, energy security and little upfront costs, especially for geothermal. In fact, for a total investment of about $3 billion in new spending, clean electricity from geothermal sources could be as cheap as coal in a couple of years, says NYU Stern Professor Melissa Schilling, a co-author of the report.

"The regressions in the paper suggest that geothermal could be cheaper than fossil fuels with approximately $3.3 billion in investment, so if fossil fuel R&D were redirected to geothermal, it is conceivable that geothermal could be cheaper than fossil fuels in just over three years — faster if fossil fuel costs go up," Schilling told SolveClimate.

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Geothermal energy production is on a hot streak, and the U.S. is leading the way.

A new report from Emerging Energy Research (EER) concludes that over 9,000 MW of geothermal plants are in the global pipeline.

These projects would nearly double the current installed capacity of 10,500 MW – which took 30 years to build.

The United States, already the largest geothermal producer in the world, accounts for 4,400 MW, or 42 percent, of that growth. About 120 new projects are under development in 12 Western States. These projects will more than double U.S. capacity in five years.

World leader, yes. But geothermal produces less than one percent of total U.S. electricity supply. And its untapped potential is just huge.

As speculated about in June, the US Department of Interior has indeed announced plans to free up 197 million acres of federal land in 11 western states plus Alaska for geothermal energy development. The initiative, says the agency

could increase electric generation capacity from geothermal resources ten times over.

Some 118 million acres would be managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The remaining 79 million acres would be under the National Forest System.

All of it will be available for geothermal leasing for the first time ever -- just as soon as the 12 US governors sign off on the plan and the BLM issues its "Record of Decision."

Google likes to tout Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) as "the sleeping giant" of clean power. The United States Geological Survey (USGS), it seems, would wholeheartedly agree.

This week, USGS scientists released the agency’s first assessment in more than 30 years of the electric power generation potential of the nation’s geothermal resource.

What'd they find?

If developed, geothermal could generate 556,890 MW of electricity in the United States. That’s more than 200 times the installed geothermal capacity in the nation today, which stands at 2,500 MW.

The Economist touches on something big in its cover story on clean energy this week: "geothermal could be hot."

From the piece:

"The recoverable heat in rock under the United States is the equivalent of 2,000 years-worth of the country’s current energy consumption."

Yes! The MIT researchers that crunched those numbers have been beating this drum for a while. (And so have we.)

And now for a related and interesting progress report.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service have just initiated a public comment period on their draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for geothermal leasing all over the American West, including Alaska.

When Warren Buffet, the most famous investor and richest person on Earth, makes an investment move, people take notice.

Or at least they should.

So get this: Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway has been investing big in geothermal energy.

He’s doing it through CalEnergy, a utility operating ten geothermal plants in Southern California.