F1: Carbon-Free Energy Is Within Reach
Do you sometimes feel like our planet is in peril and there’s nothing we can do about it?
This episode puts a pause on all the negativity and allows for a moment to look at the positives in front of us, and the opportunity that is within reach, not just with nuclear fusion, which may be decades away, but with exciting geothermal energy technology.
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F1: CARBON-FREE ENERGY IS WITHIN REACH
HELLO EVERYONE….HAPPY FRIDAY. FOR THIS FIRST FRIDAY EPISODE I’M GOING TO TALK ABOUT ENERGY AND CLIMATE AND HOW WE SHOULD BE HOPEFUL FOR THE YEARS AHEAD. I KNOW. HOW CAN WE BE HOPEFUL ABOUT THIS? WE ALL READ HEADLINES AND GET THE SENSE THAT OUR PLANET IS DOOMED…I KNOW THAT’S THE SENSE I GET…
BUT…THIS IS A NECESSARY REMINDER THAT WE, AS A PLANET, ARE JUST ABOUT TO CLEAR A MAJOR HURDLE AND THERE SHOULD BE REAL EXCITEMENT FOR WHAT’S TO COME….
EPISODE
IN THE LAST FEW MONTHS, THE INTERNATIONAL ENERGY AGENCY, OR IEA, ANNOUNCED THAT GLOBAL DEMAND FOR FOSSIL FUEL ENERGY IS NEARING ITS PEAK AND IS ABOUT TO PLATEAU. THIS IS A SIGNIFICANT MILESTONE. AFTER HUNDREDS OF YEARS OF INCREASING FOSSIL FUEL POLLUTION..WHERE EACH YEAR WE SPEW MORE AND MORE GREENHOUSE GASES INTO OUR ENVIRONMENT…THAT INCREASE IS FINALLY REACHING ITS PEAK…AND WILL SOON AFTER BEGIN TO DECLINE.
OF COURSE, WE’RE NOT OUT OF THE WOODS YET. WE’RE STILL HEAVILY RELIANT ON CARBON-GENERATING FOSSIL FUELS…. AND THE IMPACT THIS IS HAVING ON OUR PLANET IS UNMISTAKABLE.
SO, WHY THE POSITIVITY? WELL, IT STARTS WITH INNOVATION AND WHAT IT DOES FOR ENERGY PRODUCTION LOOKING FORWARD.
LET’S QUICKLY LAY OUT THE BIG PICTURE…
FOR THE LAST FIFTY YEARS, ALL EYES HAVE BEEN ON A BIG SHINY OBJECT IN THE DISTANCE…THE SOLUTION THAT WOULD END OUR RELIANCE ON FOSSIL FUEL ENTIRELY…IT’S THE PROSPECT OF LIMITLESS, CLEAN POWER… THE CREATION OF ENERGY FROM NUCLEAR FUSION. RIGHT NOW, THE NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS AROUND THE WORLD RELY ON NUCLEAR FISSION, WHICH IS ENERGY OBTAINED FROM THE SPLITTING APART OF ATOMS – BUT THIS PROCESS CREATES RADIOCTIVE WASTE AND POTENTIAL FOR CATASTROPHIC ACCIDENTS LIKE THREE-MILE-ISLAND, CHERNOBYL, AND MORE RECENTLY FUKUSHIMA…INSTEAD OF THIS….NUCLEAR FUSION IS THE GENERATION OF ENERGY FROM THE JOINING OF ATOMS…AND THIS PROCESS IS CLEAN AND RENEWABLE, WITH NO DANGEROUS BYPRODUCTS. THE CHALLENGE IS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF MATERIALS AND THE FACILITIES TO WITHSTAND THE CONDITIONS OF THE REACTION. ON THE POSITIVE SIDE, WE’RE GETTING MUCH CLOSER TO ACHIEVING THIS…BUT…REALISTICALLY, WE’RE PROBABLY THIRTY TO FORTY YEARS AWAY FROM MAKING NUCLEAR FUSION A REALITY.
SO, WE NEED A SUSTAINABLE BRIDGE…A CLEAN ENERGY SOLUTION TO GET US THERE.
WIND AND SOLAR ENERGY ARE DOING PRETTY WELL FILLING THE VOID….IN FACT, THEY ARE THE REASON OUR FOSSIL FUEL ENERGY PRODUCTION IS ABOUT TO PEAK…GOVERNMENTS HAVE HELPED WITH LEGISLATION AND INCENTIVES, SO WIND AND SOLAR FARMS ARE GROWING QUICKLY, AND THIS IS EXCITING…BUT WE NEED MORE….AND ONE OF THE MORE PROMISING SOLUTIONS IS RIGHT BENEATH OUR FEET…IT’S WHAT’S HAPPENING RIGHT NOW IN GEOTHERMAL ENERGY.
DIFFERENT FROM WIND AND SOLAR SOLUTIONS, WHICH ARE FAIRLY EXPENSIVE TO PRODUCE AND SOMEWHAT INCONSISTENT IN THEIR ENERGY PRODUCTION, GEOTHERMAL ENERGY IS ENDLESS BECAUSE IT TAPS INTO THE HEAT FROM THE EARTHS MANTLE. IF WE CAN TUNNEL DOWN AND ACCESS THAT HEAT, WE CAN CONVERT IT TO RENEWABLE POWER USING OUR CURRENT POWERPLANT INFRASTRUCTURE. THE PROBLEM WITH THIS IS, DIGGING DOWN DEEP AND ACCESSING THAT HEAT HAS PROVEN TO BE VERY EXPENSIVE…AND VERY TIME CONSUMING, SO PEOPLE HAVE ALWAYS TURNED THEIR BACKS ON GEOTHERMAL AS A VIABLE SOLUTION.
THAT’S WHERE RECENT ADVANCEMENTS IN GEOTHERMAL TECHNOLOGY ARE COMING IN TO MOVE IT ALL FORWARD, AND IT’S HAPPENING QUICKLY. EFFICIENCIES IN HOW WELLS ARE DRILLED IS THE NEW FRONTIER. ONE STARTUP COMPANY, FERVO, HAS PARTNERED WITH GOOGLE TO LEVERAGE NEW OIL AND GAS DRILLING TECHNOLOGY TO ACCESS HEAT IN THE GROUND MORE EFFICIENTLY. ANOTHER STARTUP, QUAISE, THINKS THEY’VE FOUND A NEW WAY TO DRILL DEEP DOWN TO SUPERCRITICAL GEOTHERMAL POWER USING MULLIMETER WAVES, BASICALLY LASERS, TO CUT THROUGH THE ROCK AND CREATE A STRONGER WELL THAT’S DEEPER AND HARNESSES GEOTHERMAL ENERGY MUCH FASTER AND CHEAPER THAN EVER BEFORE.
WHAT’S EXCITING IS THAT IF ANY OF THESE WORK, WE’LL BE ABLE TO VERY QUICLY START CARBON CAPTURE EFFORTS, WHICH WILL MITIGATE CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS IN OUR ENVIRONMENT, ONLY SPEEDING UP THE HEALING OF OUR PLANET.
YES, THIS WAS A LOT OF SCIENCE TALK, BUT THE BIG PICTURE IS….WE HAVE MANY CLIMATE-RELATED HILLS TO CLIMB, BUT WHAT SHOULD MAKE US ALL HOPEFUL, IS THAT WE ARE REACHING THE SUMMIT OF OUR OWN AIR POLLUTION…AND WITH THE GROWTH OF OUR CURRENT RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES COMING, WE’RE ABOUT TO START RUNNING DOWN THE OTHER SIDE.
https://news.mit.edu/2022/quaise-energy-geothermal-0628
https://ember-climate.org/insights/research/half-of-the-world-has-passed-peak-fossil-power/
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/10/iea-energy-peak-fossil-fuel-demand-by-2030/