Geothermal opp.?
stan...@gmail.com
Hot and Steamy
By Byron King
When it comes to harnessing geothermal power, the go-to place on the
planet
right now is the Republic of Iceland. Yes, Iceland. It is a large
island at
high latitude, composed mostly of dense basalt lava flows. Iceland
straddles
the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which provides that country with an almost
direct
link to the primordial heat energy within the mantle of our planet.
And that
is one all-but-immeasurable store of energy.
Thus, Iceland is the world's leading nation in terms of exploiting its
local
geothermal power resources. In Iceland, the insiders refer to the
process of
extracting geothermal energy as "heat-mining," and they are getting
rich from
the effort.
Recently, the president of Iceland, Olafur Grimsson, visited the U.S.
to
speak at a number of events and testify before the U.S. Senate
Committee on
Energy and Natural Resources.
In a speech delivered at Harvard on Sept. 26, President Grimsson
emphasized
the importance of geothermal energy to the economy and society of
Iceland. He
stated that Iceland has undergone a "radical transformation" from
dependence
on coal and oil in the past 30 years. As recently as the 1970s,
Iceland was
among the poorest countries within what was then known as the European
Common
Market (now called the European Union). That is, by most measures of
gross
domestic product and other economic output, Iceland was an economic
laggard.
But then Iceland made a conscious, strategic commitment to develop its
domestic geothermal energy resources. From large industrial projects
down to
the level of family housing, Iceland focused its public and private
energy
investment on making a geothermal energy vision into an energy
reality. Now,
according to what President Grimsson told his Harvard audience,
Iceland is
one of the most affluent nations in the world. Fully 100% of Iceland's
electricity now comes from renewable sources, geothermal and
hydroelectric,
and almost all buildings in Iceland are heated with geothermal energy.
On the
whole, about 72% of Iceland's total energy usage is tied to geothermal
sources, which eliminates essentially all carbon emissions and
dramatically
reduces reliance on imported fossil fuels of any type.
According to President Grimsson, Iceland has "turned this [geothermal
power
production] into an extremely profitable business." For example,
electricity
is so inexpensive in Iceland that there is a booming business on the
island
that imports bauxite from the Caribbean area for the purposes of
refining
aluminum, a highly energy-intensive process.
In comments after his prepared speech at Harvard, President Grimsson
expressed his "astonishment" at the utter paucity of geothermal power
generation in the U.S., merely 0.3% of all electricity generated
across 50
states. And much of that power comes from one location in California,
called
the Geysers. President Grimsson noted that the U.S. sits atop "the
second
largest geothermal resources in the world, following only Indonesia."
President Grimsson concluded that by harnessing the "fireball on which
we
sit," mankind could revolutionize energy production across the globe.
President Grimsson then took his geothermal views from Cambridge,
Mass., to
Washington, D.C., where he spoke to members of the U.S. Senate. The
Senate is
considering the National Geothermal Initiative Act of 2007, which is
legislation aimed at promoting the development of geothermal energy
resources
within the U.S. The Senate bill sets a national goal to achieve 20% of
total
national electrical output from geothermal resources by 2030, about a
64-fold
increase from the current base line.
In his remarks to the Senate, President Grimsson restated many of the
comments and observations he delivered earlier in the day at Harvard,
adding
more perspective. "Our task," he said "is to find the technology to
harness
the fire inside the planet." Also, "The companies doing business in
Iceland
have found that geothermal energy is over 30% more profitable than any
other
form of clean energy today." President Grimsson noted that 25 years
ago,
Iceland "had to beg for corporate investment." But now companies are
lining
up to gain access to Iceland's low-cost, clean energy opportunities.
In response to a question from Alaska's Sen. Lisa Murkowski, President
Grimsson stated that the geothermal energy resources of Alaska could
serve as
an "investment magnet" for that one state alone, if developed
properly.
Alaska is one of the most seismically active regions in the world,
with many
geologically controlled areas of significant geothermal potential.
President
Grimsson said that geothermal energy development could be
extraordinarily
important for Alaska and provide "alternatives to oil and gas" that
help
smaller communities build their economies and improve the lives of
their
residents.
President Grimsson's comments dovetail entirely with comments made
last year
to the same U.S. Senate committee by Walter Snyder, director of the
Intermountain West Geothermal Consortium. In 2006, Mr. Snyder focused
on the
geothermal potential for the Western parts of the U.S. The energy
potential
is so vast, he claimed, that no one really knows its full extent. Some
geologists who work in the field believe that just the state of Nevada
alone,
already a national leader in geothermal energy production, could
become the
world leader. This is particularly true due to Nevada's proximity to
power-
hungry California, where environmental regulations prevent much in the
way of
traditional energy development. Mr. Snyder said that known but
untapped sites
in Western states could be developed within a reasonable time to
produce
13,000 megawatts of geothermal energy, or the equivalent of about 15
nuclear
power plants or 30 coal-fired plants. Mr. Snyder noted that the
potential of
the Western U.S. "may actually be two or three times greater" than
that
figure.
The outcome of these Senate hearings may well be a major change in
U.S.
national energy policy distinctly favoring geothermal energy
production. By
itself, just the idea of mandating an increase of total national
electricity
production from the current 0.3% geothermal to 20% by 2030 would be
the
energy equivalent of President Kennedy declaring in 1962 that "We
choose to
go to the moon." But then again, hey, we took the policy goal and
actually
went to the moon. All we have to do with geothermal is go to Nevada or
Alaska, or to a hot spot near you.
So what is currently a very small sector of the U.S. energy business
is on
the verge of seeing immense growth, if not just plain spectacular
expansion,
over the next two decades. That kind of arena is exactly where we want
to be
with our investments. With policy changes like what we are seeing for
geothermal, this is another moonshot primed to happen.