Nine Reasons We Love Geothermal

Dear Geothermal Energy,  

Happy Geothermal Day! Today, we are celebrating you and only you, one of our favorite sources of renewable energy. While hidden beneath our feet, we know how valuable you are. Let us count the ways we love you: 

1. You are renewable. 

You offer energy by tapping into the heat that is continuously replenished within Earth's interior and will be available far, far into the future.

2. You are always there for us, and you're flexible. 

We love that you are a reliable source of energy that is not weather dependent—meaning the heat beneath our feet is there 24 hours a day, seven days a week to keep us powered, warm, and cool. Your power output can also be ramped up or down, responding quickly to our needs.

3. You're an old, familiar friend but also offer exciting new opportunities. 

You've been used for U.S. electricity generation for more than six decades—and for district heating in Boise, Idaho, since 1892! Yet you come up with new opportunities all the time, like enhanced geothermal systems that can help create geothermal electricity nationwide.

4. You can store energy for later. 

You offer energy storage capabilities underground, which are critical for grid stability and flexibility and complement intermittent renewables like solar and wind.

5. You have great potential. 

In the United States, you have the potential to generate 90 gigawatts of electricity by 2050, the equivalent of powering more than 65 million U.S. homes—and maybe as much as 300 gigawatts! You can also heat and cool homes, businesses, and even entire communities, including having the potential for more than 17,000 district heating systems and geothermal pumps equivalent to 36 million U.S. homes by 2050!

6. You have a tiny footprint.

You can produce significant amounts of electricity even though your power plants don't take up a lot of land space, and your heating and cooling technologies are barely noticeable.

7. You can be anywhere you are needed. 

Your energy goes beyond the power sector. Your geothermal heat pumps offer efficient heating and cooling systems for homeowners, communities, and businesses across the country.  In fact, retrofitting around 70% of U.S. buildings with geothermal heat pumps could lead to a reduction in electricity demand that would avoid as much as 43,500 miles of new grid transmission lines by 2050—enough to cross the continental United States eight times. 

8. You can meet other needs for our energy future. 

For instance, extracting lithium from the brines used in your power production can provide a domestic supply of this critical mineral, which is essential for battery storage and electric vehicles. The domestic lithium resources in California’s Salton Sea region could produce more than 3,400 kilotons of lithium, enough to support over 375 million batteries for electric vehicles—more than the total number of vehicles currently on U.S. roads. You can also help support things like hydrogen production.

9. You can help remote communities.  

You can be deployed in rural and electrically islanded communities to provide heating and cooling or even small dispatchable electricity production where grid connections and dependable fuel sources are harder to come by.

Thank you for being you, geothermal. You are a "hot" powerhouse that can provide us with renewable, affordable, reliable energy solutions nationwide.

Sincerely,

Your adoring fans at the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy