Geothermal energy has low profile, much promise

Geothermal energy is being looked at as one of the most promising technologies in America's effort to reduce carbon dioxide emissions that cause global warming and climate change. "Geothermal energy may be the most prolific renewable fuel source that most people have never heard of," writes Marla Dickerson of the Los Angles Times. "Although the supply is virtually limitless, the massive upfront costs required to extract it have long rendered geothermal a novelty. But that's changing fast as this old-line industry buzzes with activity after decades of stagnation."(Photo of geothermal plant by David Calvert)

The focus on geothermal energy production is focused in the western states. Adds Dickerson, "In October, the Bureau of Land Management said it planned to open more than 190 million acres of federal land in California and 11 other Western states for new geothermal development." Geothermal plants produce energy by tapping reservoirs "of scalding water and steam trapped thousands of feet underground, drilling wells to bring the heat to the surface to power turbines that feed electricity generator," adds Dickerson.

These projects have two big supporters in Warren Buffet and Google Inc., both contributing sizable amounts of money. But still the money invested into the geothermal energy is significantly less than both wind and solar. But increasingly geothermal is being looked at as a more stable and consistent source of renewable energy.

"Costing about 4 to 7 cents a kilowatt-hour geothermal is competitive with wind power and significantly cheaper than solar," Mark Taylor, a geothermal analyst with the consulting firm New Energy Finance, told Dickerson. "Geothermal facilities occupy a fraction of the space required by wind and solar farms. The energy is also more reliable. Plants crank electricity around the clock, irrespective of whether the sun is shining or the wind is blowing."

There are obstacles. "The challenge is extracting it," writes Dickerson. "Geothermal energy production requires three things: heat from the Earth's core, fractured rock to make it easy to get to and water to transport the heat to the surface." But if estimates are correct geothermal energy plants can go a long way toward reducing carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. Adds Dickerson, "There is 50,000 times more heat energy contained in the first six miles of the Earth's crust than in all the planet's oil and natural gas resources, according to the environmental organization Earth Policy Institute." (Read more)