Geothermal Power Gets $38 Million
September 22, 2011
As a follow up to our earlier article about geothermal heating and cooling for every home in America, we felt it fitting to share that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced an allocation of $38 million over three years for geothermal projects. These projects, says DOE, will "accelerate the development of promising geothermal energy technologies and help diversify America's sources of clean, renewable energy."
DOE's goal is admirable -- it's trying to reduce the cost of geothermal energy to make geothermal more competitive with conventional sources of baseload electricity.
Geothermal
Geothermal energy is the heat contained within the earth—a clean, reliable, and renewable energy. It can be used as an energy-efficient heating and cooling alternative and can in theory generate significant electric power for all regions of the United States.
Funded through DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, 32 innovative projects in 14 states will develop and test new ways to locate geothermal resources. They'll also research, develop and improve:
- resource characterization
- drilling
- reservoir engineering techniques
which will enable geothermal energy sources to help reduce the nation's reliance on fossil fuels. These advances will play an important role in achieving the current US administration’s goal of generating 80% of U.S. electricity from clean energy sources by 2035.
"The Department of Energy is investing in pioneering new technologies that will further develop the nation's geothermal resources, create skilled jobs for American workers, and help diversify our energy portfolio," said U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu.
Projects will perform feasibility studies before advancing to prototyping and validation, which will be conducted through vigorous laboratory-based research and field testing. The selected projects will support the department's goals of lowering the cost and financial risk associated with confirming and characterizing geothermal resources and will help to overcome key technical challenges to the reservoir creation and sustainability of enhanced geothermal systems.
Funds are thicker than water
In February 2011, President Obama dined with Silicon Valley tech industry innovators such as Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) and Steve Jobs (Apple). John Doerr, host of the dinner, has consistently lobbied to increase the Obama Administration high tech financial infusion from $5 billion to $16 billion.
"It's very sad that Americans spend more on potato chips than we do on investment in clean energy R&D," Doerr says.
So when geothermal gets an infusion of $38 million, it may seem like a small amount, really. But it's more than nothing. Meanwhile, there are various other financial incentives for geothermal pursuits from the goverment that might be of interest.
Summary
Money helps an initiative, but positive action and pursuit-of-the-reasonable is money's best friend. Sometimes it's best to forget about trying to solve a problem, say, an energy problem. Instead, if we focus on what works, the problem seems to solves itself.
I see this $38 million as focusing on something that works: geothermal.
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