Energy Global
Summary
Geothermal energy is both the largest potential source of renewable energy on earth and the one that is used the least.
The earliest applications – hot springs for local heating and bathing in ancient Rome, and the use of geothermal power plants for generating a few hundred kilowatt-hours of electricity in the early 1900s – only scratched the surface of geothermal’s potential as a reliable, carbon-free, always-on energy source. Even today, conventional geothermal power production capacity totals roughly 16 GW worldwide, which is just 0.5% of electricity generation capacity from renewables.1
But now a combination of factors (technology advancements, societal demand for sustainable energy, and bi-partisan governmental support for renewable energy projects that promise long-term job growth) are aligned to take geothermal energy from a minority player to a mainstream provider of safe, reliable, and widely-available heat and baseload electrical power.
There is growing enthusiasm for enhanced geothermal systems (EGS), which inject water into dry geological formations at temperatures from 150°C – 300°C (302°F – 572°F) and bring the superheated water back to the surface for district heating and power generation.
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