No, I'm not talking about the Tar Sands but about a clean, virtually limitless, nearly free energy source that's ours for the taking.
Our earth is one giant ball of heat energy. Places like Iceland are already going geothermal, that is using the core heat to create steam to drive turbines to generate electricity. Because combustion is not part of this chain, the energy is clean.
We still haven't come up with practical windpower systems that can approach our energy needs and tidal power, while fascinating, remains untapped. Geothermal is a much simpler proposition. Drill a hole into a sufficiently hot spot, pump water in to absorb that heat and transform it into steam and that's it. We know how to harvest steam energy, something we've been doing since the days of Robert Fulton and steam powered ships and locomotives.
The question is how to get a steam system up and running. The Massacheusetts Institute of Technology estimates it will take about $800-million to fund the research. The US Department of Energy has budgeted about $23-billion for research into nuclear power, alternative fuels and science studies but nothing for geo-thermal energy research.
Geo-thermal technology has advanced far past the early days of exploiting hot springs and geyser fields. Today much of North America has geo-thermal potential. The MIT study estimates that the US could easily meet 10% of its energy needs by 2050 from geo-thermal development. Research underway around the world could transform it into a much bigger part of the energy supply system.
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