"A new generation of innovators is gambling on its future".
"No matter where you stand on Earth, there is heat beneath your feet. It's closer in some places, and there's generally more of it deeper down, but it's always there, smoldering away since our planet's creation 4.5 billion years ago.
Heat is energy. In theory, there's enough of it underground to supply all of our everyday needs. Just a slice of the existing geothermal power would light up every home in the United States five times over. It's what energy people like to call "base load"—a source of power that's always on. Unlike wind and solar, geothermal produces energy day and night, rain or shine, and has a comparatively small footprint. It can be turned on when needed and turned off when other sources are more active. It doesn't generate greenhouse gas emissions, as fossil fuels do. Nor does it produce toxic waste, as nuclear does.
For decades, promises have come and gone that a game-changing breakthrough would make this unique sector of renewable energy available at scale and help move us away from planet-heating fossil fuels. There is little to show for it: Today, geothermal accounts for less than half a percent of US energy generation.
Part of the challenge is that hot spots are rare. Geothermal also has a visibility problem. We see the sun shine; we watch the wind blow through blades of grass. But aside from a hot springs resort or the alien displays in Yellowstone National Park, there's little to indicate that geothermal energy exists at all. Even in places where water boils to the surface in an eggy fog, there's no certain way of reaching an electricity-generating geothermal source."
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