Can Geothermal Energy Pick Up Real Steam?
Developers say we have a new chance to mine heat from Earth’s white-hot core -- but as investment lags and environmental questions remain, they fear we'll miss the window of opportunity.
Steam rising from a valley just north of San Francisco reminded early explorers of the gates of hell. Others saw the potential healing powers of the naturally heated water, and still others realized the steam could drive turbines to generate electricity.
It's been 50 years since power plants began running off the pools of steam that sit under California's Mayacamas Mountains. The pioneering plants in the area known as The Geysers highlighted the promise of geothermal energy, internal heat from the Earth with vastly greater energy potential than that of fossil fuels. But geothermal, virtually free of carbon emissions and more reliable than intermittent wind and solar energy, still provides only a small slice of the world's energy.
Now amid the
