Over the past few months, both the popular press and specialty publications in the renewable energy field have been abuzz with excitement about the commercialization of a new-ish geothermal energy technology by a Houston-based startup company, Fervo Energy. The approach, called Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS), uses hydraulic fracturing (fracking) techniques developed by the oil and gas industry to access geothermal energy at locations where hot underground water does not reach the Earth’s surface. The Fervo Energy breakthrough gained wide notice in part because the US Department of Energy (DOE) has long promoted the potential of the technology. Fervo’s accomplishment is real enough; later this year, the company will begin supplying small amounts of EGS-derived electricity to Google…
Read the full article originally published at cleantechnica.com.