Blog: Accelerating decarbonization with next-generation geothermal

With new approaches and technological advances, geothermal wells could become a significant source of affordable, sustainable, and reliable energy.

While humankind has used hot springs for spiritual and medicinal purposes for thousands of years, modern geothermal wells have generated electricity and heat from the energy contained in the earth’s crust only since the beginning of the last century.

To improve their economics, most of these wells have been built in the vicinity of hot spots, subduction zones, and thin crust where subsurface temperatures are high. Areas of geothermal potential that are further away from these features, and so less economical, have largely been ignored — limiting geothermal’s role as a source of abundant, renewable, and reliable energy.

That looks set to change. Multiple factors are poised to revolutionize the sector by making geothermal wells viable across far larger areas of the globe. These include:

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