Google Investing Over $10 Million in Geothermal Energy
Geothermal energy has finally hit the big time. Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, announced today that it is investing $10.25 million in an energy technology called Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS). The funding will also go towards geothermal resource mapping, information tools, and a geothermal energy policy agenda.
And it looks like Google made a wise investment choice. According to an MIT report on EGS, only 2% of the heat beneath the continental US between 3 and 10 kilometers (depths we can reach with current technology) is more than 2,500 the annual energy use of the United States.
While traditional geothermal energy relies on finding natural pockets of hot water and steam, EGS fractures the hot rock, circulates water in its system, and uses the steam created from the process to create electricity in a turbine.
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The investments will go towards three institutions: AltaRock Energy, Potter Drilling, and the Southern Methodist University Geothermal Lab.
Google’s funding may just be the push we need to really get geothermal off the ground, once again proving that government funding and initiatives can’t do everything. Substantial change can only come when private investors and corporations decide to help out—whatever their motives may be.
More Posts on Geothermal Energy:
- Germany Creates Boom In Geothermal Electricity
- Harness A Volcano To Power Your Town
- Geothermal: It Ain’t Sexy But It Sure Is Smart
[...] Must Viral Story this month: Google Investing Over $10 Million in Geothermal Energy [...]
[...] scheduled to be released 18 months later. This is only the latest of Google’s investments into alternative energy, electric vehicles, and other technology advancements to fight climate [...]
Google is just sticking its toe into the water here, as always, being smart. Google is like the braintrust of mankind, really…they have so many smart people on board.
I’ve followed this company for awhile. They know what they are doing, and this is not philanthropy, but a chance to cash in beyond the wildest dreams of ExxonMobil or BP. This, in addition to the Wind and Solar investments, could easily power the world several times over.
Transmission is a problem, and that problem will likely be accomplished via hydrogen, from what i gather.
BUT…both Geothermal and Wind can be localized to a great degree. Solar to a lessor extent, obviously.
But if you go high enough, or low enough, you can find wind and heat anywhere on Earth… It will be a few years, but mankind has more energy than a million Las Vegas’s could use, and it’s totally clean and infinite.
10 Million is nothing…next time it will be 10 billion. watch.
WOW! This is a “huge” investment.
Ten million whole dollars! Chump change for Google but it does help the green image for fools to look at.
If some of the whiners would just bother to look the government has been investing billions for the past 30 years in many different energy technologies. But no, it is easier and more fun to whine.
It’s great to see that it’s not just the government creating interest in geothermal technology. Hopefully this will get the ball rolling on making improvements in our energy crisis.
[...] Jared Potter is taking that process to the next level. Using new drilling technologies, Potter is working toward solving the increasing global demand for energy while addressing climate-change issues for a price that is competitive with coal. The solution is geothermal. [...]