U.S. Geothermal Capacity Set To Grow by 1,900% by 2050

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18 points·PaulHoule··5 comments

Probably related: BLM (Bureau of Land Management) recently announced the categorical exclusion of geothermal energy projects from its more lengthy environmental impact reviews and processes and will give projects in this category a more expedited process, as they have been deemed to have little to no impact on the surrounding environment.

Source: https://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/blm-to-speed-up-geothermal-ex...

At some point the energy we are capturing from the sun and core are going to start becoming a significant source of atmospheric heat (given that most wasted energy is dumped into the atmosphere as heat). I wonder when we'll need to start building heatsinks to send the energy back off into space (we could probably double-dip with thermocouples or sterling engines?).

Small investment. Small impact. Probably worth continued exploration.

could be an excellent complementary tech to supply energy when solar panels and wind turbines dip in production.

For reference the stated goal of 400MW by 2028 is around 0.3% the rate of solar alone in 2023, both are which are still growing exponentially.

Which... maybe isn't as bad as it sounds. The biden administration really has not been given enough credit for this investment. It was and is a genuinely big deal.

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