Green Tech

A new company pursuing an advanced geothermal energy technology has had to suspend its first attempt to drill a deep well in Northern California.

AltaRock Energy on Wednesday said it ran into problems during drilling for a demonstration project, "resulting from geologic anomalies particular to the formation" at the Geysers Geothermal field.

The project, said to be budgeted at $17 million, was partially funded by a Department of Energy grant given to several companies to explore the viability of enhanced geothermal systems. Sausalito, Calif.-based AltaRock was funded by Google and venture capital company Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

(Credit: AltaRock Energy)

Although technical difficulties are normal in drilling projects, the progress of AltaRock is significant because it is one of few companies pursuing enhanced, or engineered, geothermal systems. It's a technology that holds great promise but that has raised safety concerns.

Traditional geothermal power draws on naturally occurring underground hot-water reservoirs to make electricity. With enhanced geothermal systems, wells are dug a few miles underground, and rock formations are fractured. Then water is injected into the wells, heated by the rock, and pulled back up. That hot water is converted to steam to turn an electricity turbine.

A Massachusetts Institute of Technology study two years ago found that using this enhanced method of geothermal power generation could supply 10 percent of the electricity in the United States. It could also be done in a wide variety of locations, rather than just the limited number of locations that have traditional geothermal resources.

But an article in The New York Times in June raised questions over the safety of enhanced geothermal systems, due to the deep drilling. In one test in Switzerland, drilling from a geothermal project caused earthquake tremors, causing the project to shut down. The Department of Energy and the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management will not allow AltaRock to fracture rock before a review which is still pending, according to the Times report.

In its statement, AltaRock didn't offer many details on why it suspended drilling but said it is evaluating other locations to build a demonstration facility, including other spots at the site where it had been working.

The Tesla Roadster.

(Credit: Tesla Motors)

If you love Paris and the environment, and you have a boatload of money, this could be your dream home.

A real-estate company called Welcome in France is offering a free Tesla Roadster with every purchase of one of its homes in a new ecological luxury-housing development on the outskirts of Paris, according to a report.

The development will use solar panels, geothermal energy, and its own water treatment facility, among other things, French car blog Le Blog Auto reported, but it's still under construction, and buyer interest has been slow due to the economy.

The Tesla is a new enticement to get ecologically minded (and presumably wealthy) people interested.

But with a helipad and golf course included in the development, it's hard to judge just how environmentally friendly the exclusive 40-home development could actually be.

Sue Butler decided it was time to cut the cord on fossil fuels. So when her aging gas furnace needed replacing, she turned to the Earth for a solution.

She installed a geothermal system--also called a ground-source heat pump, a water-source heat pump, or geo-exchange system--which recently started heating and cooling her Cambridge, Mass. home. Butler said she was motivated by environmental reasons and concerns over carbon monoxide from burning natural gas.

"It's not that much more expensive and I could manage it. And it means no more combustion and it gets the building off of carbon, which is urgent," she said.

Ground-source heat pumps have been around for decades but every year seem to attract more homeowners and organizations who are looking for alternatives to traditional space heating and cooling. They can hook into existing forced hot air and hot water systems but not steam heat.

Starting in 2006, nearby Harvard University installed six ground-source heat pumps as part of its Green Campus initiative. Administration buildings and athletic facilities are already online and two more buildings planned.

The pump room at an apartment building in Fitchburg, Massachusetts.

(Credit: MassInnovation)

One real-estate developer, MassInnovation, has made geothermal an integral part of its eco-themed housing and office buildings. Having equipped one senior living center with geothermal, it's now planning on converting what was once a giant 19th century factory into one of the largest geothermal installations in New England, according to CEO Robert Ansin.

People who go with geothermal are typically either interested in it because it's a clean energy technology or because they're looking to escape fossil fuel prices, said Diona Roberg, the director of operations at Water Energy Distributors, which distributes geothermal systems from ClimateMaster.

"Business is out of control--we can barely keep up with it," Roberg said. About half of the customers go geothermal to cut heating and cooling costs. But the other the half "don't care what it costs, they just want to do green," Roberg said. The family-owned business has doubled in size over the last four years.

Open and closed loop
Strictly speaking, what's often called a "geothermal system" is a misnomer because it implies tapping the heat in the Earth, something already done at large scale to supply electricity to utilities. This geothermal energy--and its offshoot enhanced geothermal--works only works in certain geographies and uses different technology.

Rather than use underground heat, geothermal heat pumps attached to buildings capitalize on the steady temperature of the ground or deep water wells. In effect, they treat the Earth like a giant energy savings bank, depositing or withdrawing heat depending on the time of year.

Two ground-source heat pump units stacked on top of each other. Heat is extracted or added to water which is pumped undergound.

(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET Networks)

During the summer, the systems pump indoor heat underground and draw on the lower temperatures of the Earth to cool a building. In colder months, the same process works in reverse, with heat from the ground being used to warm indoor air.

Indoors are box-shaped heat pumps that pull and and push either water or a working fluid, such as antifreeze, in and out of the ground. Using the same compressor loop mechanism that a refrigerator has, a heat exchanger draws energy from the circulating liquid to either heat or cool a building.

There are a number of different configurations for the liquid transfer loops--either water wells several hundred feet deep, which are said to be the most efficient, or coils which could be dug only a few meters underground. Others use a body of water like a pond as a heat sink.

Regardless of type, though, ground-source heat pumps are considered one of the most efficient forms of heating and cooling.

The International Ground Source Heat Pump Association, based in Stillwater, Oklahoma, said geothermal is 50 percent to 70 percent more efficient for heating than other systems. The U.S. Department of Energy says that a ground-source heat pump uses 25 percent to 50 percent less electricity than conventional heating and cooling systems.

Roberg said that the maintenance costs for geothermal are half the cost of traditional heating and cooling systems. The payback on geothermal systems, which used to be about seven years, is now typically four years, she said. Recently passed federal renewable energy incentives now include $2,000 per year tax credit.

Green Edge
But even with these benefits, geothermal heating and cooling still remains a relatively niche product, with about 50,000 units installed a year in the U.S., according to the Department of Energy.

One reason is the upfront cost. All told, a geothermal heating and cooling installation, including duct work, will be about 50 percent more expensive than fossil fuel-based system, Roberg said.

Drilling is typically the biggest portion of the bill because it can cost tens of thousands of dollars alone. The geo-exchange pumps themselves for homes can cost between $17,000 to $30,000, according to Butler.

A "vertical" loop of a ground-based, or an open-loop ground-source heat pump.

(Credit: WaterFurnace International)

Experts warn that installations of these systems are very site specific--poor installation of ducts, for example, can lead to an underperforming unit.

Also, certain regions appear to be better suited for geothermal-exchange technology; some developers have reported that pumps that spend most of the year pumping heat underground, and little time pulling heat out, don't perform as well over time.

In its analysis of its first six geothermal systems (click for PDF), Harvard identified a number of installation challenges related to the design of wells and understanding the water resources underground.

A more subtle challenge is the status quo. Homeowners who aren't aware of geothermal systems will install what contractors--also unfamiliar with the technology--will recommend.

Ansin of developer MassInnovation, encountered this institutional skepticism first hand while renovating an abandoned shoe factory in Fitchburg, Mass.

He was looking at spending a significant portion of his overall budget--about $500,000--on a standard industrial furnace and chiller when he had a chance encounter with a driller friend who suggested that geothermal heat pumps might be cheaper.

Ansin had never heard of geothermal, but once he looked into it, he realized that it could be both cost-effective and allow him to differentiate his buildings in a way other than just location. The facility, called Anwelt Heritage Apartments, is marketed as an eco-friendly building that uses a ground-source heat pump and a solar array.

The system is about half as expensive as the traditional set-up, said Ansin, who is now part owner of a drilling outfit. He passes the lower utility costs to people in the 86 residences, who pay less than a half of what they were paying in utility bills.

He's very enthusiastic about the technology but admits that the geothermal industry is immature compared to the traditional heating and cooling business.

"Even though heat pumps and geothermal space conditioning has been around for a while, it's still considered very much a new market and as such, there aren't nearly enough contractors and engineers," he said, adding that an installation can require coordinating different contractors. "Unfortunately, until you have a one-stop-shopping solution, it's not going to become nearly as ubiquitous as it could be."

The Army plans to install a 500-megawatt solar thermal power farm at a Fort Irwin, Calif., base as part of its bid to reduce a $3 billion annual energy bill, spent mostly on installations.

Nellis Air Force Base solar panels.

(Credit: U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Larry E. Reid Jr.)

The Mojave Desert plant would feed electricity to the grid by 2014 for savings of $21 million and 4,015,000 tons of carbon dioxide over 25 years. Construction is set to begin in 2012.

The Army's solar thermal system would eclipse the 14 megawatts at Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas, the largest U.S. solar photovoltaic installation.

"By making greater use of alternative and renewable energy, Army initiatives will bring energy savings and security to the Army, reducing the risk of power disruption," said Keith Eastin, the Army's assistant secretary for Installations & Environment, who is charged with reporting the progress of energy projects to Army Secretary Pete Geren.

The solar project is close to the scale of the 550 megawatts planned to come online by 2013 by OptiSolar of Hayward, Calif., for what would be the world's largest thin-film photovoltaic plant. Utility Pacific Gas & Electric inked a deal with that company in August to use electricity from the target site in San Luis Obispo County.

The Army's Monday announcement came as it establishes an energy council to advance a collection of projects, including:

• A joint geothermal initiative with the Navy to provide 30 megawatts at Hawthorne Army Depot, Nev., by 2012.
• Biomass-to-fuel demonstrations at six Army posts: Forts Benning and Stewart in Georgia; Fort AP Hill, Va.; Fort Bragg, N.C.; Fort Drum, N.Y.; and Fort Lewis, Wash. A one-year test will begin in 2008. Waste for potential conversion for use as diesel or jet fuel would come from wood and grass clippings and cardboard.
• Plans to buy 4,000 electric vehicles for maintenance and operations at Army posts, replacing 800 petroleum-powered vehicles. The Army aims to phase in the vehicles over three years, reducing the use of more than 11 million gallons of fossil fuel.

SAN FRANCISCO--The United States government has been unable to fix the country's energy problems, Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said, but the Internet giant on Wednesday proposed its own 22-year solution.

"We have seen a total and complete failure of leadership in the political parties of the United States," Schmidt said in a speech at the Commonwealth Club here. "We've been working on a plan to help solve this problem."

Google CEO Eric Schmidt describes the company's energy plan.

(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET News)

Earlier in the day, Google unveiled that plan, which doesn't lack for chutzpah: Clean Energy 2030 aims to wean the United States from its dependence on fossil fuels within 22 years.

Schmidt said the plan requires $4.5 trillion in spending to pull it off, but it'll pay for itself with $5.5 trillion in savings. "With this plan, it's cheaper to fix global warming than it is to ignore it," Schmidt said.

The general plan consists of various efforts to save energy; a shift to renewable wind, geothermal, and solar energy; and a complete cessation of energy from coal and oil and halving of natural gas. Those changes would cut energy production-related carbon dioxide emissions from about 6 billion metric tons per year today to 4 billion per year in 2030.

Energy efficiency is at the forefront of Google's thoughts: the company operates hundreds of thousands of servers, and the company has warned that energy costs could outpace server hardware costs. So a decline in energy costs makes practical sense, Schmidt said.

"We save a lot of money when prices go down. It's good for shareholders, good for earnings," he said.

However, he made clear in a meeting with reporters later that the effort is also driven by the moral beliefs of Google's co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

Also on Wednesday, Google announced the fruits of its effort to increase the energy efficiency of its data centers.

Google's Clean Energy 2030 plan would completely eliminate coal and oil use for energy production in 22 years.

(Credit: Google)

Economic stimulus
The present financial crisis, with an expected bailout that will cost $700 billion, likely will be followed by further economic stimulus spending that likely will reach $100 million, Schmidt predicted.

"Why not use that money to solve once and for all the things we debate: energy security, rising oil prices, a lack of jobs--especially in rural areas--(and) a lack of technology investment?" Schmidt said. "If you follow my reasoning and take advantage of the technological opportunities--and the apparent willingness of the government to write large checks during a crisis--we can do this."

He acknowledged that the problem will require sustained attention to solve, but said that's the job of governments. "The government spends lots of money on many things that are strategic. It seems to me that energy independence, given the history of the last 10 years, should be at the top of the list," Schmidt said.

Google predicts energy-related carbon dioxide emissions will drop by about a third with its plan.

(Credit: Google)

Energy plan details
How does Google propose to transform the country's energy usage? Here's Google's description:

• Deploying aggressive end-use electrical energy efficiency measures (about 1.4 percent per year savings) to reduce demand 33 percent.

• Replacing all coal and oil electricity generation, and about half of that from natural gas, with renewable electricity: 380 gigawatts (GW) wind: 300 GW onshore + 80 GW offshore; 250 GW solar: 170 GW photovoltaic + 80 GW concentrating solar power; 80 GW geothermal: 15 GW conventional + 65 GW enhanced geothermal systems

• Increasing plug-in vehicles (hybrids & pure electrics) to 90 percent of new car sales in 2030, reaching 42 percent of the total U.S. fleet that year

• Increasing new conventional vehicle fuel efficiency from 31 mpg to 45 mpg in 2030

• Accelerating the turnover of the vehicle fleet from 19 to 13 years (resulting in 25 million new vehicle sales per year in 2030, a 31 percent increase over the baseline)

Advising Obama
Schmidt, who said he's an adviser to Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign, said he prefers that candidate's energy plans. "The Obama program is more in line with the one I'm describing," Schmidt said.

He also dinged Republicans for using the term "clean coal," which he called an oxymoron not unlike "limited nuclear war," and said that offshore oil drilling, although a lively topic of debate, will satisfy only a tiny fraction of the nation's needs and only five years from now at that.

Now is the time to offer the plan, according to author Jeffery Greenblatt, climate and energy technology manager for the company's philanthropic Google.org arm.

"With a new administration and Congress--and multiple energy-related imperatives--this is an opportune, perhaps unprecedented, moment to move from plan to action," Greenblatt said.

Google is investing $10 million in "enhanced" geothermal systems--essentially technology for tapping underground heat--which it says is one of most promising forms of renewable energy.

Through its philanthropic arm Google.org, the Internet giant will invest in two geothermal technology start-up companies and give a university grant to study the potential of geothermal resources.

Heat underfoot: a Google Earth representation of geothermal resources. Click the image for a larger view.

(Credit: Google Earth)

The move is part of Google.org's RE<C (shorthand for Renewable Energy Less than Coal), an initiative with the goal of producing one gigawatt of electricity--larger than a typical coal-fired power plant--through renewable sources.

Google has invested in solar thermal companies eSolar and BrightSource Energy as well as wind company Makini Power. It has also installed a large 1.6-megawatt solar array, established a plug-in hybrid station at its headquarters, and spearheaded energy-efficient computing programs like Climate Savers.

The latest investments are meant to spur development of geothermal, which a Massachusetts of Institute of Technology study last year found was underutilized. Like fossil fuel power plants, geothermal plants can supply electricity during peak times, while wind and solar have limitations in this regard.

Mixing water and hot rocks
The two companies Google is investing in--AltaRock Energy and Potter Drilling--focus specifically on so-called enhanced geothermal technology.

Typically, geothermal plants, which are in the Western U.S., tap into existing wells of hot water or steam thousands of feet underground. The retrieved hot water or steam turns a steam turbine to make electricity.

Enhanced geothermal technology pumps water underground to crack hot rocks. The heated water or steam is captured to turn a turbine and then pumped back down underground.

The U.S. Department of Energy says that these advanced techniques can dramatically increase geothermal potential--by 40 times.

"EGS (enhanced geothermal systems) could be the 'killer app' of the energy world. It has the potential to deliver vast quantities of power 24/7 and be captured nearly anywhere on the planet. And it would be a perfect complement to intermittent sources like solar and wind," Dan Reicher, director of climate and energy initiatives for Google.org, said in a statement.

Google is putting $6.25 million into AltaRock Energy, part of a larger $26.5 million second round of investment. First round investors included high-profile green-tech venture capital firms Khosla Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

AltaRock Energy is looking to develop a cost-effective method for pumping water underground and recuperating it. It plans to launch a pilot project and is targeting utilities in Western U.S. states that have renewable energy mandates.

Google.org will also invest $4 million in two separate "tranches" into Potter Drilling, which is making drilling products designed for hard-rock environments like granite. The technology can also be used for carbon capture and storage and nuclear waste storage.

Meanwhile, Southern Methodist University's Geothermal Lab will get a $489,521 grant to study the size and distribution of geothermal energy resources in North America.

While geothermal power plants are now in the Western U.S., the MIT study found that large-scale geothermal power production can be done in some parts of the Eastern U.S.

In an FAQ, Google.org said that development of enhanced geothermal systems means that renewable energy "could conceivably be deployed almost anywhere, and is essentially limitless in supply."

Reicher said enhanced geothermal system technology "hasn't received the attention it merits." Google.org is pressing for policies and commercial investment to better encourage EGS development.

Google is also said to have been in discussions with Israeli geothermal company Ormat Technologies.

For a discussion about Google.org's geothermal investment and the growing interest in clean tech, see the Daily Debrief video.

Simbol Mining, which plans to plans to extract lithium for making batteries for electric cars and consumer electronics, has secured $6.7 million in series A funding.

MDV-Mohr Davidow Ventures and Firelake Capital led the funding round.

The start-up has set the bold goal of meeting within 10 years one-fourth of global demand for the lithium carbonate, which could become a $1.5 billion market by 2015.

Simbol describes its process as "zero waste" because it will piggyback on geothermal power plants. Simbol will mine commodity metals from the salty water that gushes up from 10,000 feet below ground as part of geothermal power production.

"With the closure of this new financing, we can complete development of the processes needed to produce lithium from brines and effluent streams, in an environmentally conscious manner," Simbol CEO Luka Erceg said in a statement.

Erceg co-founded the company with engineering director John Conley as both pursued MBAs at Rice University in 2006. They have recruited former geochemists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Earlier this year, the Cleantech Forum named the Houston-based start-up the most promising technology of the year.

Correction June 30 11:30 a.m. PDT: See below for details.

A sampling of green-tech news with quick commentary.

• High fuel costs threaten suburban lifestyles - The Boston Globe
  Does America need a redesign? Rising gas prices could drive an exodus from suburbs into city centers.

• Novomer launching plastic made from CO2 - Greentech Media
  Plastic made from carbon could be used in electronics and solar equipment.


Digital maps show the scope of California wildfires.
(Credit: Google Earth)

• Google Earth maps California fires - Google Earth Blog
  Tagged maps and NASA satellite imagery help to pinpoint some 1,400 fires raging in California.

• Number of flights to plummet by summer's end - The New York Times
  The number of flights by American carriers could plummet to post-9/11 levels as airlines struggle with rising fuel prices.

• Canadian carbon tax kicks in - Canadian Press
  A new tax has British Columbians paying an additional 8 cents per gallon for gasoline. Are similar taxes bound for the United States?

• Pacific 'Ring of Fire' nations mull geothermal power - Reuters
  Rich in volcanoes, Indonesia and the Philippines consider tapping deep into the earth for energy.

• Molten salt provides highly efficient thermal storage - Renewable Energy World
  Molten salt could be key for solar "towers of power" to work smoothly despite volatile weather conditions.

• Will shoppers become hip to square milk jugs? - The New York Times
  Square milk jugs meant to save fuel and water are bound for more bulk discount stores.

• EcoRAM could save power in server farms - GreenTech Pastures/ZDNet
  Spansion says its new flash memory would be 10 times more reliable and consume one-eighth the energy of DRAM.

• Military resists superfund cleanup - The Washington Post
  The Pentagon and Environmental Protection Agency battle toxic waste cleanup.

• Report: World to use 50 percent more energy by 2030 - Red, Green, and Blue
  This is a good explanation of last week's report that projects a 51 percent rise in carbon dioxide emissions in the coming decades.

• VW testing 94 MPG plug-in hybrid electric Golf - Carscoop
  Volkswagen is testing a plug-in hybrid that can run 30 miles on a charged lithium-ion battery.

Correction: This story initially misstated the comparison between Spansion's new flash memory and DRAM. The new memory would consume approximately one-eighth the energy DRAM does.

Google is in discussions with Israeli geothermal company Ormat Technologies, a relationship that could lead to an investment, according to Haaretz.

The Israeli newspaper quoted an interview this past weekend with Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who praised Ormat and the other Israeli companies working in alternative energy. Google co-founder Larry Page also visited an Ormat geothermal plant in Nevada, the newspaper reported.

An Ormat geothermal power plant in Nevada.

(Credit: Ormat Technologies)

Brin refused to say whether there are any imminent deals with Israeli energy companies.

Google's philanthropic arm, Google.org, has pledged to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in clean-energy companies. Last week, it was one of the investors in solar thermal power-plant designer and operator Bright Source Energy, which raised $115 million.

Executives at Google have been clear that so-called enhanced geothermal is on the list of technologies they see as cost effective, compared with fossil fuel energy.

The idea behind enhanced, or engineered, geothermal systems is to inject water underground to enhance the permeability of rock, allowing for the release and capture of more heat.

Ormat is working on an enhanced geothermal project organized by the U.S. Department of Energy, which says that these advanced techniques can dramatically increase geothermal potential--by 40 times.

Hat tip to VentureBeat.