OMG! 6.4 Gigawatts of Geothermal Power

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You may have heard something like:

"France gets around 78% of its electricity from nuclear" but "If market incentives are not adequate, this implies that wind power and other "green" technologies are not cost competitive."

Ask yourself how much a red-white-&-blue nation like France, which is further down the capitalist/socialist fork in the road than we, subsidizes its nuclear industry. For now, suffice it to say that a number of sustainable renewable technologies are already proven and being rapidly deployed across this great nation.

More than 6,400 megawatts of geothermal capacity is under development to add to 3,153 megawatts that’s already built.

That's 6.4 nukes worth of electric power being added to the 3.1 nukes worth already in place.

Geothermal electricity-generation capacity rose 6 percent in 2009 from a year earlier as Enel SpA and Ormat Industries Ltd. built new plants. Six plants added about 177 megawatts of capacity and created 750 full-time jobs after $800 million was invested.

And that technology is really heating up, so to speak. U.S. Geothermal Energy Capacity Expected to Triple in 5 Years

Where there be ample stimulus, ampler investment & jobs therefore follow.

“The geothermal energy industry is experiencing unprecedented growth with future years promising double-digit, year-over-year expansion,” said Karl Gawell, GEA’s executive director, in a statement. “While stimulus money has been driving much of the recent growth, we are also seeing that as geothermal technology pushes forward the economics of these projects really make sense.” Stimulus provided big boost for geothermal industry U.S. Geothermal Power Production and Development Update - January 2010

Of course, we already had all this science & technology way back in 2006 during the foreign-fossil-fueled Bush/Cheney era.

"We've determined that heat mining can be economical in the short term, based on a global analysis of existing geothermal systems, an assessment of the total U.S. resource and continuing improvements in deep-drilling and reservoir stimulation technology. MIT-led panel backs 'heat mining' as key U.S. energy source"

Who knew? Impact of Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) on the United States in the 21st Century
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