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Recent $74m investment made alongside assessment that 10% of electricity could be generated by geothermal by 2050
A limitless supply of heat exists beneath our feet within the Earth’s crust, but harnessing it at scale has proved challenging. Now, a combination of new techniques, government support and the pressing need to secure continuous clean power in an era of climate crisis means that geothermal energy is finally having its moment in the US.
Until recently, geothermal has only been viable where the Earth’s inner heat simmers near the surface, such as at hot springs or geysers where hot water or steam can be easily drawn to drive turbines and generate electricity.
While this has allowed a limited number of places, like Iceland, to use geothermal as a main source of heating and electricity, it has only been a niche presence in the US, providing less than 1% of its electricity. But this could change dramatically, offering the promise of endless, 24/7 clean energy that can fill in the gaps of intermittent solar and wind generation in the electricity grid.
“Geothermal has been used for over 100 years, limited to certain geographic locations – but that is now changing,” said Amanda Kolker, the geothermal laboratory program manager at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
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Does extracting this energy have a measurable impact on anything? Because we also thought that the ocean was so large that human fishing and polluting wouldn’t have an impact, and that definitely wasn’t true.
I had the same question. Looks like any impacts would be very small.
as long as the earth exists (likely for another 4 billion years), we won’t run out of geothermal energy. Geothermal energy generation isn’t limitless, however, as there are a finite number of suitable locations on Earth for geothermal power plants.
Here’s the primary potential issue, which is admittedly pretty scary, but can be mitigated:
The main environmental concern that comes with geothermal power plants is the potential for surface instability.
Source: https://www.energysage.com/about-clean-energy/geothermal/environmental-impacts-geothermal-energy/
Geothermal power is the way to go in Subnautica, too.
No Man’s Sky, too!
Some naturalists are probably looking very nervously at Yellowstone at this headline lol
Here let me crack the code for deploying geothermal energy at scale.
magic code breaking algorithm goes brrrrrrrr that uses advanced analysis of bleeding edge science and leading indicators of societal change to determine the best strategy
DING!
checks answer
….it just has a picture of an oil ceo with their head under a guillotine.
Wait wasn’t the answer supposed to involve AI and venture capital? I think I lost my place in the script damn.
Jesus Christ it’s like you’re the living incarnation of the awkward feeling of watching someone laugh obnoxiously at their own joke.
Just to be clear, you’re not getting downvoted because people disagree with the idea that the oil industry is a problem that’s holding back greener energy sources.
And most probably aren’t down voting because the guillotine remark being a call to violence or anything like that.
The downvotes are purely because that was a very cringy comment to read, it wasn’t funny, and it didn’t really add anything useful to the conversation.
Seems more like they’re aiming to get the rest of the world using Methane because they’re the world’s largest producer and exporter of Methane.
