Earth’s crust holds an abundant supply of heat that can be turned into electricity through geothermal technology.
So far, geothermal power generation has been mostly limited to volcanic areas like Iceland, where that heat is easy to access. But advances in deep drilling technology are revolutionizing the field worldwide.
In 2006, research led by MIT for the national labs pointed to the huge opportunity of this deep geothermal as an always-on renewable that some say could be a game-changer for the climate. And recently, the Interior Department greenlit the massive Fervo Energy project in Utah that should produce as much as 2 gigawatts, enough to power more than 2 million homes.
Jamie Beard is the founder of Project InnerSpace, which aims to kickstart geothermal with drilling expertise from oil and gas.
