Forum Moderators: goodroi
In the continuing effort to develop electricity from renewable energy cheaper than from coal, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), through its philanthropic arm Google.org, announced $10.25 million in investments in a breakthrough energy technology called Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS). Today's announcement 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.
The big issue is the length of time it takes to drill the holes to put the water in and exhaust the steam. They normally have 3 holes & they have to be in the right place or you need to drill again. This has stemmed to a few clever scientists developing new drilling techniques which will speed the process up. They showed a clip where they were drilling through rock with bubbles and it worked really well.
Lets hope it takes off
How about they forget about the geothermal and instead stop trying to be the MS of the internet age?
Are you saying that your self-interest (your desire for Google to not be #1) takes precedence over a project to develop a source of renewable energy?
Google's where they are because everyone else lacked the brains, leadership, and foresight to innovate. Yahoo had the opportunity to buy them for a few million and passed. How's that for a lack of foresight?
Yahoo and MSN have only themselves to blame.
That Google is investing in green technologies, as well as encouraging urban gardening, is a mark of their ability to not only see the big picture of where they fit into the world, but their tendency to lead not follow. This is not only good for the environment, but it's good for Google financially in the long run.
This isn't a California or hippie thing either. The public expects the government to legistlate our green future but private industry is already moving forward. From India to the United States thousands of companies are switching over to greener technologies because it's not only good for the environment, it makes sound economic sense. Even companies like Frito-Lay realize it makes economic sense to convert factories to use greener processes to save millions of dollars per year- just from one factory.
Green technology is a growth industry
Dismissing the adoption of green technologies is to miss out on what's being innovated today for tomorrow. According to the NYTimes [bits.blogs.nytimes.com]:
When the market does turn around, investors say green technology will lead the way, with mobile and digital entertainment following. They predict that international investing will pick up and expect China, India, Brazil, Russia, Israel and Qatar to be attractive markets, the KPMG survey found...
Green is not just an environmental symbol, it's also the color of money.
Good job, Google.
Dismissing the adoption of green technologies is to miss out on what's being innovated today for tomorrow
There was a lot of "green" hype in mid-70th as well. I wasn't in US at the time (heck I was barely walking), but so I've been told by a few people. There was a lot of "tax-free" money invested, mostly into companies that were spun off from Big Oil. Nothing really materialized from it, and later government stepped in to tax these entities, effectively squashing them. So there's a real concern behind "being green" hype, no doubt.
Talking about new drilling - there are rumors about a technology that basically "vaporizes" rock in front of the drill, allowing to drill very fast and very far. These rumors come from various sources both in and outside US. So based on that "drilling using bubbles" sounds like "green vaporware", really.
Are you saying that your self-interest (your desire for Google to not be #1) takes precedence over a project to develop a source of renewable energy?
No, I'm saying it's typical corporate hype and is nothing other than green-washing. It wasn't done to further renewable energy, it was done to make themselves look good as part of the "do no evil" nonsense.
It wasn't done to further renewable energy
I was bashing Google before it became "cool", but I think in this case they do the right thing even though the amount invested is very small - Google also uses solar cells a lot and it saves real energy, that's certainly a good thing and should be encouraged.
I know what they're doing, because lots of other corporations are doing the same thing - play up how you're helping the environment with the investment of a very tiny portion of the budget, and use it as a prop to disguise the real plan, which is to maximize profits and put the competition out of business. Google is contributing a pittance to geothermal, compared to what they make. It's no different than what any other company would spend as part of an advertising campaign. In the end, their input to geothermal, or solar panels, will make no difference. It's all about them and their quest to be the top of the heap. That attitude is what's killing this planet. They're doing quite well - why do they need so much more? Why does MS always need more? Where is the virtue in pure greed?
...a prop to disguise the real plan, which is to maximize profits...
Yep, not farfetched, Stefan. As I posted above:
This is not only good for the environment, but it's good for Google financially in the long run.
There are companies like the old Working Assets (since renamed to something forgettable that I can't remember) who donated a significant portion of their revenue (not profit) to progressive charities. Compared to them most other companies including Google are not devoting significant resources to making the world a better place.
But I'm not going to bash Google or anyone else for that because I do not personally devote significant resources to charity so who am I to bash them?
So is venting geothermal energy going to increase global warming?
Here's a good start: [theorionproject.org...]
I can invest into "Drilling for geothermal" myself, in my own backyard. No mystery or high impact there.
