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Google Invests $10M In
Geothermal Energy
August 19, 2008
 In
the continuing effort to develop electricity from renewable energy
cheaper than from coal, Google has invested $10.25 million in a energy
technology called Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS). This also includes
funding for research on next-generation geothermal resource mapping, EGS
information tools, and a policy agenda for geothermal energy.
EGS expands the potential of geothermal energy by orders of magnitude.
The traditional geothermal approach relies on finding naturally
occurring pockets of steam and hot water. The EGS process, by
comparison, replicates these conditions by fracturing hot rock,
circulating water through the system, and using the resulting steam to
produce electricity in a conventional turbine.
A recent MIT report on EGS estimates that just 2% of the heat below the
continental United States between 3 and 10 kilometers, depths within the
range of current drilling technology, is more than 2,500 times the
country's total annual energy use.
"EGS could be the 'killer app' of the energy world. It has the potential
to deliver vast quantities of power 24/7 and be captured nearly anywhere
on the planet. And it would be a perfect complement to intermittent
sources like solar and wind," said Dan Reicher, Director of Climate and
Energy Initiatives for Google.org.
Google's Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal initiative focuses on solar
thermal power, advanced wind, EGS and other potential breakthrough
technologies. Google has set a goal to produce one gigawatt of renewable
energy capacity, enough to power a city the size of San Francisco, in
years, not decades.
To advance EGS, Google.org announced funding for two companies and a
university:
- AltaRock Energy, Inc.: $6.25 million
investment to develop innovative technologies to achieve
significant cost reductions and improved performance in EGS
projects.
- Potter Drilling, Inc.: $4 million
investment in two tranches, to develop new approaches to lower
the cost and expand the range of deep hard rock drilling, a
critical element to large-scale deployment of EGS.
- Southern Methodist University
Geothermal Lab: $489,521 grant to improve understanding of the
size and distribution of geothermal energy resources and to
update geothermal mapping of North America. "Innovation is the
path to massive quantities of cleaner, cheaper energy. The
people we're funding today have a real shot at lowering the cost
of EGS, and bringing us closer to our goal of Renewable Energy
Cheaper than Coal," added Dr. Larry Brilliant, executive
director of Google.org.
"EGS is critical to
the clean electricity revolution we need to solve the climate crisis,
but EGS hasn't received the attention it merits. That's why we're
pressing for expanded support from government and increased investment
from the private sector," said Reicher, "We're big believers in EGS and
we're looking for more opportunities."
Google has been working on energy efficiency and making its business
environmentally sustainable. To this end, the company has taken steps to
reduce its carbon footprint and accelerate improvements in green
technology, including:
 Developing
cutting-edge energy efficiency technology to power and cool its
data centers in the U.S. and around the world using 50% less
energy than the industry standard - Generating electricity for its
Mountain View campus from a 1.6 megawatt corporate solar panel
installation, one of the largest in the U.S.
- Accelerating development and adoption
of plug-in electric vehicles through the RechargeIT initiative
- Joining with other industry leaders to
form the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, a consortium that
advocates the design and use of more energy-efficient computers
and servers
- Working on policies that encourage
renewable energy development and deployment, such as a U.S.
Renewable Energy Standard
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