She proposes that the oil and gas industry skills and people be used to create geothermal power systems — anywhere — not just in local hot spots. As she says, these people have the skills to drill deep enough to tap heat, and to move a fluid around to be used in geothermal power systems. Which will run 365/7/24. By going deep enough, you can set up pretty much anywhere, whether in Texas or in Maine,
And, all those skilled oil and gas workers (and a lot of their tools) can be used for this, no need for retraining to program computers (hah!) etc. Letting these folks know that they will be part of the solution and not part of the problem can win over a lot of folks.
Such geothermal systems would not have a huge pollution footprint like nuclear fission systems, and should take less time and money to build.
By building them more locally (as opposed to big solar or wind farms, the need for more transmission lines is reduced. With closed systems, there are no noxious pollutants
Get the Exxons, BPs, and Shells behind this and there will be less of a struggle to meet climate goals. Once the trial systems have proven how to do this, those companies will rush to take this on and have a future.
There is a way around this. There is a way to employ many of the folks who currently drill for and extract oil in what to provide non-polluting power.
This TED talk is absolutely brilliant!
https://www.ted.com/talks/jamie_c_beard_the_untapped_energy_source_that_could_power_the_planet
She proposes that the oil and gas industry skills and people be used to create geothermal power systems — anywhere — not just in local hot spots. As she says, these people have the skills to drill deep enough to tap heat, and to move a fluid around to be used in geothermal power systems. Which will run 365/7/24. By going deep enough, you can set up pretty much anywhere, whether in Texas or in Maine,
And, all those skilled oil and gas workers (and a lot of their tools) can be used for this, no need for retraining to program computers (hah!) etc. Letting these folks know that they will be part of the solution and not part of the problem can win over a lot of folks.
Such geothermal systems would not have a huge pollution footprint like nuclear fission systems, and should take less time and money to build.
By building them more locally (as opposed to big solar or wind farms, the need for more transmission lines is reduced. With closed systems, there are no noxious pollutants
Get the Exxons, BPs, and Shells behind this and there will be less of a struggle to meet climate goals. Once the trial systems have proven how to do this, those companies will rush to take this on and have a future.