Untapped energy lies just below the U.S.
There might be more untapped potential energy underground in the United States than you think.
In this case, we're not talking about oil or any other fossil fuel, for that matter.
The energy is geothermal, harnessing the heat from molten rock beneath the Earth's crust and converting it into electricity.
Right now, the United States leads the world in geothermal generation, producing more than three million megawatts of electricity from 77 plants.
But a new map created by Southern Methodist University's Geothermal Lab, with help from a grant from Google's philanthropic arm Google.org, may reveal yet more untapped energy lying underneath this nation's surface.
The map estimates the U.S. could potentially generate nearly three million megawatts using the Earth's heat, or about ten times the installed capacity of coal power.
"I do think that's in our future, and there are new technologies out there that are changing the energy dynamic, the way we thought about technology just five or ten years ago," says Phil Flynn, senior energy analyst at PFG Best.
He also notes that changes in technology have made it easier to extract natural gas from shale, using hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. He sees geothermal as just one component of an expanded, more independent energy future for the United States.
"It's a very nice map to show you, not only are we the Saudi Arabia of natural gas now with these new technologies, we may be the Saudi Arabia of the Earth's crust heat," says Beutel.
Learn more about the SMU Geothermal Lab map here.
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