Google has been going all gangbusters when it comes to clean energy. So far this year they've taken big time strides into solar power, on-shore wind power, off-shore wind-power, and even an alternative form of transportation in the form of a human-powered monorail.
So why not go ahead and add geothermal energy to that list? According to Gigaom,
Has Google struck geothermal gold in West Virginia? A new report shows that heat underground the state could provide 18,890 megawatts of power using today’s geothermal technology — more than the state’s entire power generation capacity of 16,350 megawatts, most of which comes from coal. Google, which has been investing in next-generation clean power technologies, funded the research.
Google hasn’t made clear just what it intends to do with this new-found geothermal resource. But Google’s philanthropic arm, Google.org, has invested more than $45 million in clean energy technologies, including advanced wind, solar thermal and enhanced geothermal systems. It’s working on several geothermal research projects with the Department of Energy (see here and here for examples), as well as a partnership with General Electric to research technology to capture energy from hot underground rock, as compared to today’s geothermal plants which rely on existing underground hot water reservoirs.
We've asked the question before when discussing the ongoing development of Google's RE<C clean energy program, but do you think your next energy bill soon come from Google?
[Photo: martin_vmorris/Flickr]
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