Bipartisan Focus on Energy Innovation Emerges

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https://eos.org/articles/bipartisan-focus-on-energy-innovation-emerges

Source:  By Randy Showstack, Eos/AGU.

Excerpt: A congressional subcommittee has advanced three energy-related bills that push for technological innovation in geothermal energy development, battery storage, and power grid modernization—innovations that could help to slow greenhouse gas emissions. One of the bills, the Advanced Geothermal Research and Development Act of 2019 (H.R. 5374), “takes important steps toward advancing a woefully underutilized source of energy,” said Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) at the 19 December markup of the legislation by the Subcommittee on Energy of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. ...Geothermal energy, which is literally heat derived from Earth, contributes to just 0.4% of electric power generation in the United States, according to the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Although the United States already generates more total power from geothermal sources than any other country, proportionately, it pales in comparison with geothermal leaders like Iceland, which gets 26% of its total electric power generation from geothermal, according to a report by the Atlantic Council, a Washington, D.C.–based think tank. ...The report found that by 2050, geothermal power generation could increase more than 26-fold from today and reach 60 gigawatts of installed capacity, providing 8.5% of all U.S. electricity generation. ...Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.), another member of the committee, said that legislation he introduced, the Better Energy Storage Technology (BEST) Act (H.R. 2986), also would provide climate benefits. ...Energy storage is vital for the advancement of renewable energy and the security of the electrical grid, according to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI). Energy storage “can help address the intermittency of solar and wind power....

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