Reuters: U.S. urged to ramp up geothermal power
"This is a big resource that is perhaps undervalued by people who are thinking of options for the country," said Jefferson Tester, an MIT chemical engineering professor who led the 15-month study released on Monday.
"We're running out of time here with our existing fleet of nuclear reactors and all the coal-fired plants that we have that are exceeding emission guidelines," he added.
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MIT's study, described by the researchers as the most far-reaching on the subject in 30 years, said the United States as a first step could achieve capacity of 100,000 megawatts – enough to supply about 25 million homes — in 50 years at an eventual cost of just $40 million a year.
That would represent about 6 percent of the current U.S. electricity supply. Coal is now the leading source of U.S. electric power, supplying 49.7 percent.
"It wouldn't take a lot of money. It's not like this requires billions of dollars to accomplish," said Tester, who helped develop thermal energy technology in the 1970s.
The proposed program would require a combined public and private investment of $800 million to $1 billion in the first 15 years — about the same money needed to build one new clean-coal power plant, the study said.
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