Integrating Input to Forge Ahead in Geothermal Research

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https://eos.org/opinions/integrating-input-to-forge-ahead-in-geothermal-research

Source:  By Robert Rozansky and Alexis McKittrick, Eos/AGU.

Excerpt: we describe a methodological approach to combining qualitative input from the geothermal research community with technical information and data. The result of this approach is a road map to overcoming barriers facing this important field of research. Geothermal energy accounts for merely 0.4% of U.S. electricity production today, but the country has vast, untapped geothermal energy resources—if only we can access them. The U.S. Geological Survey has found that unconventional geothermal sources could produce as much as 500 gigawatts of electricity [https://www.usgs.gov/energy-and-minerals/energy-resources-program/science/geothermal?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects] —roughly half of U.S. electric power generating capacity [https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/electricity-in-the-us-generation-capacity-and-sales.php]. These sources have sufficient heat but insufficient fluid permeability to enable extraction of this heat [U.S. Geological Survey, 2008; https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2008/3082/]....

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