Tricks from the oil industry have produced a hot-rocks breakthrough

Geothermal energy may be approaching its Mitchell moment. George Mitchell, a scrappy independent oilman, is known as the father of fracking. Nearly three decades ago, he defied Big Oil and the conventional wisdom of his industry by making practical the hitherto uneconomic technique of pumping liquids and sands into the ground to force out gas and oil from shale rock and other tight geological formations. The enormous increase in productivity that resulted, known as the shale revolution, has transformed the global hydrocarbon business.

  • Coffee AddictOPMEnglish
    3•3 months ago

    Thoughts on this? I am a big proponent of nuclear energy, not just because it creates a lot of energy but because it represents a way we can combat the climate crisis.

    However, geothermal energy takes advantage of the energy that’s already in the Earth; the trick is accessing it, which the article suggests may soon be a viable option to broadly generate energy without generating greenhouse gases.