Google’s philanthropic arms, Google.org, is investing a little over $10 million into the development of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS). Rather than extracting heat from the ground a few hundred feet down (or less) as traditional geothermal systems do, EGS goes several kilometers deep into the hot rock under the Earth.
If we could tap just two percent of that heat under the continental United States, one MIT study estimates that would supply more than 2500 times our energy needs. But getting that hot rock cost-effectively will require new technology. (See the video above for an illustration of a 50 megawatt EGS project in Australia).
The money will be broken up in the following way: $6.25 million will go to AltaRock Energy, another $4 million will go to Potter Drilling, and a $500,000 grant will go to a geothermal lab at Southern Methodist University.
Google is too funny sometimes
http://vishtech...results_15.html
Funny Google Search Results
Well I need solar on my house, Google I am waiting, just give me a call. In the mean time I will just continue educating people about solar power at my site.
http://www.FliteRecord.com
That’s HOT !
I just love this kind of stuff from Google. I’m going to go click on some of their ads to help finance more of this kind of social philanthropy.
Err, that doesn’t help.. If advertisers see that the ad is not converting, they will simply stop advertising on google. (Oversimplified but hey..)
If you want to help support Google then buy products from the advertisers.
Geothermal is the only energy source which is theoretically a viable alternative to fossil fuels. It is great to see Google.org taking the lead with their support but we seriously need world governments to follow this up with some proper funding.
Geothermal is a minority that with (from memory) only one exception simply supplements the power grid by producing a small amount.
Hydro and ocean currents seem much more effective.
The ONLY energy source that’s a viable alternative? That’s a pretty big statement. Solar could be viable in Australia if an area equal to every rooftop was covered with photovoltaic cells, for example.
Given oil prices you would think think that the United States would get serious about energy and set up a NASA type of agency to do this kind of research and then make it open source.
Thanks, Google. Wish you were running for office!
Interesting to see Google making this sort of investment. Very “green” of them. What’s next?
http://www.KillerStartups.com
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I will be investing in LIQUID HOT MAGMA myself!
It’s too bad there’s not more being done to champion efficiency. It’s not a very sexy step but marketing could change that.
With clever unit smoothing, every electric device sold could be rated by MPG. 315mpg DVD player?
kw/hr is not sexy and rarely enters daily thought, mpg might make people listen.
Only in the few countries that still use miles and gallons
This isn’t philanthropy. Its an investment in renewable energy.
Hail Google
I hear everybody lavishing Google with praise over this move; but lets be honest, 10 million from The Google is only a token amount.
Wish them the best of luck. I know a brilliant engineer who has been working in geothermal electricity for… maybe 20 years now. The mechanical engineering issues are not simple here. It is not a new technology, nor a technology which has not had a lot of brilliant minds at work on it. But, if these new companies can make breakthroughs all the better. My one fear is that all these new headlines and investments will lead people to believe solutions are around the corner. The U.S. can find solutions, but it is likely going to take massive efforts to produce scalable solutions servicing beyond 5% of current demand. Hopefully Google’s .org guys understand this.
Applying basic principles of heat exchange, we are going to use Zutonium nanofiber pipes to fully entropy superheated vapor condensation within existing tropo-atmospheric vents.
LOL!