Google Goes Big for Geothermal

Google, Inc. announced plans to invest $10 million in an energy technology known as enhanced geothermal systems, or EGS. While conventional geothermal power plants generate electricity using ultra-hot steam stored in natural reservoirs one or two miles below the earth's surface, EGS can theoretically tap heat in dry rock by pumping cold water into artificial underground reservoirs. (Google produced this video to show how it works.)

While geothermal energy offers a renewable alternative to oil and natural gas, large-scale plants do not pass unscathed through the thicket of environmental woes. U.S. News & World Report's Kent Garber explains:

Though geothermal is largely carbon free, the required drilling can disturb the surrounding area. Most geothermal reserves are located on government land under the jurisdiction of the Interior Department, which requires lengthy environmental assessments before allowing new drilling.

But geothermal energy does have some significant advantages, not only over traditional fossil fuels but also over other renewable energies. For one thing, unlike wind and solar power, geothermal power is generated constantly--24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Awarded through Google's for-profit philanthropic arm, Google.org, the EGS investment is greater than 2008 funding for the federal geothermal program, which has taken big cuts in the last two years. Daddy Googlebucks will split the cash three ways, with $4 million going to the drilling company Potter Drilling and some $490,000 going to the geothermal lab at Southern Methodist University. The largest chunk, $6.25 million, goes to the Sausalito, California-based start-up AltaRock Energy, Inc., which announced an additional $20 million in funding today from Microsoft, Vulcan Capital, and the Silicon Valley venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Khosla Ventures--two big backers of alternative energy companies.

Fast fact: About 6 million people in the U.S. power their homes with energy produced with geothermal technology, according to the Geothermal Energy Association.

Share your thoughts and stories: Have you used a geothermal heat pump at home? What do you think about drilling for steam?

Want more? Read Green Life posts about energy and technology here.

Comments

[research]

search:

Geothermal earthquakes

[GreyFlcn]

Sciguy,
Uhm Sciguy, you're confusing Geothermal for heating, and Geothermal for ThermoElectric power.

http://greyfalcon.net/geoenergy.png

[Sciguy]

The Q in this blog was: "Have you used a geothermal heat pump at home?" - so I answered it by saying only what happened to me.

True, geothermal for power is a bit different, but the idea is the same: using the temperature differential between the earth's surface and beneath the earth's surface for eventual conversion to some form of energy, by means of trapping heat in water or other liquid. However, having used a geothermal heat pump - which attempts to use heat exchange, on a smaller scale - I have to say that although the theory of using geothermal energy for electric power sounds nice, I don't think it's "for real." Maybe some day, but not now.

[research]

Good eye!

the Swedes use the ground and lakes as the "Warm" sink for their heat pumps. The idea is that the ground never get colder than 50 degrees, and the water never colder then 20 degrees. if this is "hotter" than the air, it should be more efficient to run the heat pump sucking "heat" out of the ground than the air.

I'm sorry to hear your system didn't work.

[Sciguy]

Have I used geothermal? Yes. Did it work. NO. NEVER. NOT AT ALL.

It didn't work from the day it was installed until the day it was cut into pieces and thrown away in favor of a conventional heat pump. The owner of the company who installed the conventional heat pump referred to the geothermal unit as a $10,000 boat anchor. He was wrong - but only because we don't have a boat.

The company who made the unit (not mentioned here because I don't want myself of Huffington Post to be tracked down and sued) could not have cared less about the problems we were having. I spoke to the president of the company, and he was happy because he had his money from the sale, and the fact that the unit was crap didn't bother him a bit. The local electric company, which had recommended geothermal and specific contractors, threw up its collective hands and said the problem wasn't any of their doing - but they kept that contractor on their recommended list. A few years later, the contractor got a divorce and skipped town - but his name remained on the list nonetheless.

I wouldn't recommend geothermal to my worst enemy. As far as I can tell, from my own personal experience, it's a scam.