Artificial Intelligence Is Driving a Geothermal Energy Boom
IEA Sees Massive Oil Surplus In 2027 As Middle East Supply Returns Haley Zaremba is an energy journalist and researcher with more than a decade of professional experience covering global energy systems, land and natural resources, and… The artificial intelligence boom is fueling an energy revolution.
The extreme electricity demands of the fast-growing sector are kicking the research and development of a huge number of next-gen energy alternatives into overdrive, with particular attention to clean energy sources that can provide power 24/7.
As a result, the private and public sectors alike funnel billions into nuclear fusion and enhanced geothermal, among other future-facing baseload energy sources.
In recent years, geothermal has emerged as a majorly promising solution for round-the-clock clean energy thanks to enhanced drilling technologies that make the technology suitable for nearly every geologic context on Earth.
Until now, geothermal energy has only been viable in locations where the heat from the Earth’s core naturally escapes to the surface through geological anomalies like geysers.
But thanks to breakthroughs in drilling technologieson the part of the hydraulic fracturing industry, we can now dig deep enough to access the Earth’s natural heat nearly anywhere on the surface.
Thanks to these ‘enhanced’ drilling approaches, geothermal energy could soon feed into a power grid near you.
The enhanced geothermal sector is still in its infancy, and therefore continues to face relatively high costs thanks to a lack of scale, among other factors.
Today, geothermal represents just 0.4 percent of the United States energy mix, even though the country is the global leader in installed geothermal capacityat about 3.7 gigawatts.
But geothermal’s newness also presents one of its key advantages.
The sector gets the considerable benefit of learning from the success stories as well as cautionary tales of the startup clean tech sectors that have come before it.
As Latitude Media reported earlier this year, “geothermal has the chance to get it right the first time” – especially when it comes to managing the public pushback and policy snags that plague nuclear energy and solar and wind power.
| Product | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Brent Crude | $102.14/bbl | +0.34% |
| WTI Crude | $96.90/bbl | +0.21% |
| EN590 Diesel | $846/MT | +0.18% |
| Jet Fuel A-1 | $1090/MT | +0.55% |
| Mazut M100 | $450/MT | -0.15% |
| Bitumen 60/70 | $470/MT | +0.08% |
| Sulphur Gran 99.5% | $470/MT | -0.44% |
| Urea 46% Gran | $650/MT | +1.12% |
| NPK 16-16-16 | $460/MT | -0.28% |
| Nat Gas TTF | $15.42/MMBtu | +0.92% |
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