http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/altarock-geothermal-gets-new-boost/
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In this article, it says that the Department of Energy will pay appx. $25,000,000 to enhance a "geothermal demonstration project in Oregon." This is all part of the $338,000,000 boost for geothermal research energy thingies. This project is being developed by AltaRock Energy Inc, (see above picture that says Altarock on it). They unfortunately had to stop their geothermal shenanigans in California because of "drilling problems" (Lorinc 1).
This large amount of money is to go towards research near a volcano in Oregon. It is called the Newberry Project. Also, AltaRock has received money from the DOE before.
They hope to tap into more efficient geothermal energy, an energy source they say is a "bottomless storehouse of energy in the earth’s core." However, the cash money comes into play because it "it involves drilling to depths of well over 10,000 feet and then injecting cold water to create networks of small fractures in the hot rock." (Lorinc 1). All this is very complicated, but could solve many of our energy problems currently.
The volcano in Oregon that the company was drilling in was said to have a lot of warmth, but not enough water to fund a geothermal plant. They need to be very careful though because the volcano is extremely potent and has "erupted 25 times in the past 10,000 years" (Lorinc 1).
I hope geothermal energy catches on. Now, I can't quite say that I am an expert, but any sort of means of energy that is clean and reknewable and seemingly bountiful, is something I support. I hope they figure out how to harness this energy without blowing up the planet. And then maybe we can figure out how to get inside our planet and all it's gooey rock goodness.
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