Incredible Geothermal Green Energy Potential --By Shan Saeed

Green energy can change the global energy mix moving forward. By Shan Saeed


It is estimated that huge EGS geothermal resource potential lies beneath the western United States. This is approximately half of the current installed electric power generating capacity in the United States. China is moving into electric cars aggressively. USA could be producing 32 million times more geothermal electrical power than it does at present. I am bullish on Oil, Natural Gas, Ethanol and Geothermal.....


Expert speak about energy

This year's forum in Russia was just as entertaining, and while it didn't have quite a distinguished audience, it did feature Marc Faber and Nassim Taleb in a discussion of whether Russia is the best or worst BRIC. That said, trust both Faber and Taleb not to stick to the script and go off on wild tangents. Sure enough, the line of the night as usual belonged to Faber: "We have a big debate in the world whether we will have a deflationary collapse or an inflationary boom...usually after a period of very heavy money printing war follows." That is the philosophical gist of it. As for Faber's recommendation, it is precisely the asset which has become a short-seller's nightmare in the current geopolitically fragile environment: Oil.

BOTH SAID,

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"Whether you are very bullish or very bearish you should invest in oil."

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POTENTIAL OF GEOTHERMAL

The U.S. produces more than 100,000 gigawatt-hours per year of geothermal electricity already, but it could produce as much as 3.2 trillion gigawatt-hours. This green energy has UNBELIEVABLE potential globally. The U.S. could be producing 32 million times more geothermal electrical power than it does at present.


STRATEGIC INSIGHT

The Earth's heat never stops—meaning a geothermal power plant can produce electricity as regularly as a nuclear power plant can. And it also has nearly no emissions of the greenhouse gases causing climate change. Geothermal power plants are currently located in areas with natural hot springs and geysers, such as this planned 15MW plant in the US state Nevada.
Enhanced geothermal will be a whole new ballgame. That is where the lion's share of geothermal power can be tapped, but it will require expensive deep drilling technology which has not yet been perfected for this purpose. It will also require new forms of ultra-deep fracking of hot rock, to enhance deep crustal heat exchange for energy extraction.

The hazard of earthquake-triggering is routinely hyped and inflated, as is natural whenever a genuinely revolutionary energy technology is considered. But deep geothermal drilling cannot create new seismic faults where none exist, nor will the technology increase tension on pre-existing faults. Enhanced geothermal can either drill in seismically active -- or seismically inactive regions. In the inactive regions, there is no problem. For seismically active locations, the technology of enhanced geothermal is more likely to prevent large earthquakes, by facilitating smaller tension-relieving quakes. Study of HAARP is important. What happen in 1942 in England? It can provide you valuable insight for future decisions.

The potential is certainly there. But the technology and the economics needs to catch up to the potential. That will take time and investment. By transferring all investment away from wasteful and ineffectual energy mix over to technologies with solid 24 hour / 365 day baseload potential, society would be taking a big step forward. We are surely moving towards clean and environment friendly energy for the future requirement. You bet.

Disclaimer: This is just a research piece and not an investment advice. Investors are encouraged to execute their own due diligence before making any strategic investment or moving into implementation phase.