Maria Richards
West Virginia is hot bed for geothermal resources: Green energy source in coal country, says Google-funded SMU research
New research by SMU’s Geothermal Laboratory, funded by a Google.org grant, suggests the Earth’s temperature beneath West Virginia is significantly higher than previously estimated.
The finding suggests the resource in West Virginia could support commercial baseload geothermal energy production, says SMU’s David Blackwell.
Geothermal energy is the use of the Earth’s heat to produce heat and electricity. “Geothermal is an extremely reliable form of energy, and it generates power 24/7, which makes it a baseload source like coal or nuclear,” said David Blackwell, Hamilton Professor of Geophysics and Director of the SMU Geothermal Laboratory. (Photo: Yellowstone hot springs)
Geothermal heat: Will Earth’s “hot rocks” become new “Texas tea”?
Texas, which has been the nation’s largest fossil-fuel producer, also has an abundant supply of another natural resource for a different kind of energy boom: clean, renewable, geothermal energy.
Like the oil and gas beneath Texas, there’s a huge quantity of naturally occurring “hot rocks” underground that could be tapped for geothermal energy to produce electricity, according to new research by SMU scientists. South and East Texas have an abundant supply, say the researchers. Continue reading
SMU conference: Geothermal energy from oil, gas wells
Enhancing existing oil and gas wells for the purpose of producing electricity from the Earth’s heat will be the focus of an annual international geothermal conference at SMU in November. The conference is coordinated by the SMU Geothermal Laboratory and … Continue reading
Posted in Earth & Climate, Energy & Matter, Events, Technology
Tagged David Blackwell, Dedman College, Maria Richards, SMU Geothermal Lab
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Earth’s inner heat holds promise of generating much-needed electric power in Northern Mariana Islands
A chain of 14, breathtaking Pacific islands is paradise lost without reliable electricity.
The Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth some 1,500 miles east of the Philippines, has seen its garment industry waste away in the face of global competition. Attracting replacement industry is difficult, in part because of the commonwealth’s undependable power supply. Rolling blackouts are the norm, caused by aging power plant equipment and the irregular delivery of expensive, imported diesel to run the plants. Continue reading
Posted in Earth & Climate, Economics & Statistics, Energy & Matter
Tagged David Blackwell, Dedman College, Geothermal Map of North America, Maria Richards, SMU Geothermal Lab
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