Google Throws $10 Million At Geothermal

Google.org, the public-spirited division of Google.com, charged with addressing "climate change, poverty and emerging disease," is using the backdrop of the National Clean Energy Summit here in Las Vegas to announce a new round of clean energy financing.

In a nutshell, the company is investing an arguably modest sum -- a little over $10 million -- in the development of Enhanced Geothermal Systems, or EGS. The technology differs from "traditional" geothermal in that rather than exploiting existing wells of earthbound steam and hot water, EGS drills deep -- miles down -- to access layers of heated granite that exist underfoot everywhere on the planet. Water can be circulated downward for heating, and then upward to drive turbines and generate electricity.

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More developments from the National Clean Energy Summit:

::Bill Clinton Gets Wonky, Makes 10 Energy Recommendations

Comments

[markie1111]

smart boys. minimal foot print both enviromentally and carbonwise. long term payback. now if they would spend the cash to bury them, the elk would say okay!!!

[JohnKdrew]

This is FANTASTIC – we need so little room really to harvest solar energy – just the confidence to back this new (well actually very old) energy source.. We can all help to make wise climate change resource decisions – read the emergency triage response to current climate change crises at
ClimateTriage

[DRaymond]

In all the recent heated discussion about solar vs wind vs nuclear vs more oil drilling geothermal has gotten short shrift. Every dollar that oil goes up it becomes that much more economical to drill deeper for heat, and if you drill far enough every place on earth has geothermal though obviously some places are better than others.

Plus it is perfectly green, endlessly renewable, and doesn't take a lot of land area from other uses or nature.

[KillTheMessenger]

Geothermal does not replace oil any more than nuclear energy does. It is a fabulous technology for places that have easy access to hot geological layers with good thermal conductivity.

I wouldn't call geothermal truly renewable. Average geothermal heat flow from below is something like 60mW/m^2, i.e. it's nearly four orders of magnitude below solar energy flux. Admittedly, there might be enough heat capacity in good sites for centuries to come, but once that heat is gone, geothermal will run "out of steam" pretty much like oil does.

[mamacat]

The Earth's core, and as a result the Earth's mantle, has been very hot for 4.6 billion years, so it is not likely to cool down in the next couple of hundred years.

Goethermal can help to replace natural gas used in electricity production. It can also help to replace petroleum used for transportation, if we ever succeed in developing PHEVs and EVs.

I do question why Google is pushing for deep-Earth geothermal at this time, since there is so much undeveloped geothermal at relatively shallow depths that could be exploited more cheaply. It just seems to me more practical to avail ourselves of those geothermal sites that can be more easily developed before going after the expensive, deeper sites.

[OneMoreTime]

You have no idea what you are talking about. The heat generated by the Earth will be here LONG after we are gone. As long as our planet is "living," it will be generating heat.

It is nothing like oil, which is the extraction of a material out of the ground. Geothermal is using inherent energy. We can't possibly use it up.

[sheila]

Point of use "geothermal" which taps into the steady temperature of the earth, not into boiling water, is a fantastic pre-heating and pre-cooling solution for existing and new structures. You can get a radiant floor fluid to roughly 60 degrees, then heat or cool it a bit from there to your desired temp... Some estimates say it can cut heating/cooling energy use by more than 50% even after the pump is accounted for.

That is really the only "perfectly green" use of geothermal. there are too many issues with other deep uses, like sulphuric acids, lengthy transmission, collapsing aquifers, excessive water use, flushing of heavy metals, etc.

[ThirdEye]

Thank you Google for stepping up to the plate!
Now if more people can just put their money where there mouths are maybe we can pull ourselves out of this energy mess.

[sheila]

gee, Google, thanks. because if anyone needs more R & D, it's Big Energy Monopolists!!! why not invest in the kind of tech that will DO NO EVIL, as in, will give INDIVIDUALS INDEPENDENCE from Chevron, Pickens, Edison, Sempra, etc? all you are doing by diverting all that money to centralized solutions, is investing in destroying our open spaces, bleeding taxpayers and ratepayers dry, and ensuring that the 21st century follows in the exact footsteps of the 20th - with Robber Barons manipulating our energy supplies and prices.

with friends like Google, we don't need Big Oil, Big Coal and Big Electric!

do the right thing, Goog, and start investing in something that will help PEOPLE, like point of use renewables, smart meters and conservation tech, and stop investing in projects that will make 20 people rich while socializing all the costs onto the planet, ratepayers and taxpayers.­..

[OneMoreTime]

How does this solution not help "the people" ?

I say anything we can do to get off oil is good... you're just nitpicking.

If you want INDIVIDUAL INDEPENDENCE from big oil, do it yourself. Install solar on your property, install a small wind turbine or two. Heat your own home with geothermal. Be the change that you seek. If you wait for someone else to do it for you, you'll be waiting for a while..

[sheila]

why do you support "someone else to do it for" Big Energy, but not to do it for us? we need R & D into technology that will make it better, faster, cheaper and more effective to power our own properties, not into technology that will make it easier and cheaper for Big Energy to centralize our power, again, force us to pay for all their infrastructure, then hijack us on rates.

don't we ALL want independence from ALL Big Energy? how many Enrons, Chevrons, Exxons, Sempras and other proof of pricing and supply manipulation do you need to realize these guys are all the same? Did you read the article this week about all the eminent domain and corruption in the NE wind industry? have you attended the BLM hearings where Big Solar is demanding full access to National Parks and critical habitats? are you aware that building and maintaining new giant transmission lines will generate FAR more GHGs than these low-emission plants can ever offset? we could prevent ALL that harm, which is not nitpicking - it's the ugly truth.

Big Wind and Big Solar are just as rapacious and corrupt as Big Oil and care about the environment and ratepayer just as little. Big Geothermal will be the same. So why are you all excited about replacing one horrible planet-killing monopolist with another? why do you object to my support of point of use renewables which TOTALLY help the environment, ratepayers and taxpayers? please dig deeper.

[Egalitare]

Just as long as we all understand that the upfront costs of Enhanced GeoThermal are as high as any alternative source of energy.

That said, this is really the ONLY DRILLING we should be doing.

[Wilburrr]

Did you hear Micheal Savage demand an end to Google Earth the other night because people could use it to target mortar rounds on his house?

Someone needs to tell him to shut up and act like a man. Doesn't he know he can't get anywhere acting like a putz?