"Geothermal is the future," said competition participant Cesar Vivas at a geothermal community event hosted by the winning team. "It is the only renewable that can be a baseload source of power and is not limited by seasonal factors. You can develop geothermal energy anywhere, so I recommend anyone to apply to this competition."

The Sooners Geothermal Team from the University of Oklahoma (OU) took first place for designing a system repurposing six abandoned oil and gas wells in Shawnee, Oklahoma, to provide clean, renewable geothermal energy for more than 730,449 square feet of educational and municipal buildings, including sites within the Absentee Shawnee Tribe and Potawatomi Nation jurisdiction.

By using previously drilled, currently unproductive oil and gas wells, the team showed how a creative design could reduce drilling costs to feasibly power local schools, religious centers, and government buildings using geothermal energy.

As part of the competition, the first-place team from the Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy received funding to host a community event sharing their project and the benefits of geothermal. The team's event was held on Sept. 2, 2022, in the historic Molly Shi Boren Ballroom at the Oklahoma Memorial Union, where the team shared their passion for this project and the potential of geothermal energy.

"I just took a course here on geothermal, but the amount of knowledge that we acquired by doing the project was so much more than a course—it is a 'hands in' type of opportunity," said Karelia La Marca, the team's geophysicist.

As she enters the final year of her doctoral studies at OU, La Marca shared that her studies of geothermal are not over just because the competition has ended.

"The cool thing is that I got so interested in geothermal energy from this competition, and how we can transfer oil and gas skills, that my third and final doctoral project is going to be based on geothermal," La Marca said.

Yuxing Wu, a postdoctoral researcher at OU responsible for modeling and economic development for the competition project, has also found inspiration through the competition.

"Next step, we want to let more people know we have this project, collect some funding, and then we want to make it real—not just on paper," Wu said.

So how did the team react when they learned they won this year's competition and $10,000?

"We were very proud of all the work we put into it, but we were all kind of in shock when we heard we won," Cedola said. "We freaked out, started texting and calling each other, and our advisors and teachers found out. It was thrilling."

The next Geothermal Collegiate Competition opens for registration—and a shot at thousands in prize funding—in November 2022. Competition deliverables will be due in spring 2023. Keep an eye on the Geothermal Collegiate Competition website for more information.

On July 5, 2022, Governor Kathy Hochul signed NY Senate Bill S9422 into law, which "establishes the Utility Thermal Energy Network and Jobs Act to promote the development of thermal energy networks throughout the state and to provide jobs to transitioning utility workers who have lost or are at risk of losing their employment."

Thermal Energy Networks are utility-scale infrastructure projects that connect multiple buildings into a shared network with sources of thermal energy like geothermal boreholes, surface water, and wastewater. Rather than each building needing its own borehole, multiple buildings in a network can share the same thermal sources. In addition, waste heat from large industrial buildings can also be used to heat smaller residential buildings.

Buildings are linked together via underground pipes. Each building is equipped with a heat pump that provides heating or cooling by exchanging thermal energy with pipes containing circulating water. The water in the pipes maintains a temperature within the needed range by exchanging heat with geothermal boreholes or other thermal resources.

The bill, which passed in the New York Senate by a vote of 63-0, also requires the training of utility workers to work on thermal energy projects. Preference is given to those who have been displaced by reduction of natural gas consumption, distribution infrastructure, and building construction.

I would just like to check in with you all after our recent change in leadership. We'd like to assure you all that the Geothermal Rising Conference, coming up on August 28-31st, 2022, will be going off without a hitch! With an increase in papers and posters from 2021 and an interest in Expo spots from an assortment of different, new companies, this upcoming GRC, along with the strong momentum within the geothermal community itself, is surely going to be one to remember. Is your company looking for a booth at the Expo to help network your company to the geothermal industry? Are you looking to register for the conference itself? Find information here: https://grc2022.mygeoenergynow.org/

Along with this increase in participation in GRC, we are really excited to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of this association! We are going to celebrate in numerous ways through the remainder of the year, but one way for our membership to get involved is to submit an entry to the photo contest. You can find more information here: https://www.geothermal.org/our-impact/geothermal-rising-50th-anniversary-storytelling-contest

Lastly, the staff, board of directors and numerous volunteers of Geothermal Rising continue to work hard to educate and promote geothermal energy within the US and abroad. A few key initiatives that we are focused on are:

• Furthering geothermal education to the masses. How do we reach those outside of the energy sector to promote geothermal?
• How can we improve the impact of Geothermal Rising outside of the annual conference? 
• What is the membership looking for from Geothermal Rising that they are currently not receiving? 

Thank you for your continued support of Geothermal Rising! If you have any questions, concerns, comments, etc. please reach out, we would love to hear from you.

Now is the time for oil and gas to look down at the great opportunity before them—to do what is right for their employees, customers, shareholders, the environment, and future generations. We’ll explain why oil and gas companies should invest in geothermal energy.

• Pressure is mounting for the oil and gas industry to become carbon neutral, and that pressure will only increase in the coming decades. Geothermal energy is carbon neutral.
• Oil and gas companies have explored the subsurface of the earth for decades. People in the oil and gas companies are seeking cleaner, greener jobs. Their technology, expertise, and data collection bring unique advantages to the geothermal space and help decrease costs. Investing in geothermal energy is a natural pivot for oil and gas companies that will make their employees and shareholders happy.
• Hot water, which geothermal energy produces, will become increasingly valuable to the oil and gas industry.
• Both industries have similar technologies, knowledge, and expertise.
• Both industries find and engineer reservoirs under the earth’s surface.
• Old oil and gas wells can be repurposed to become geothermal heat sources.

More and more  oil and gas firms are committing to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Why is it important for this industry to become carbon neutral? According to McKinsey, oil and gas production contributes 42% of the global greenhouse gas emissions. That’s a lot of CO2.

Why is reducing CO2 emissions important? According to NOAA, despite the global pandemic, carbon dioxide levels are higher than any time in the last 3.6 million years. If oil and gas companies don’t get on board to be carbon neutral, we won’t solve the CO2 problem.

In February 2020, BP announced net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 or sooner. And other oil and gas companies have also said they plan to become carbon neutral or significantly reduce their carbon footprint including Paris-based Total, the Netherland’s Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, the Spanish oil and gas company Repsol, and PetroChina.

But with rising CO2 emissions, the current scenario demands immediate action. A partnership with geothermal companies can help oil and gas companies become more carbon neutral by repurposing old oil and gas wells. Using geothermal energy equipment in abandoned or unproductive oil and gas wells helps address the need for more renewable energy sources.

As the oil and gas industry continues to decline, workers are looking for new job opportunities. Because many of the drilling technologies and methods are similar, workers can easily transition to geothermal energy jobs and help create clean energy. Solar, wind, hydro, and nuclear power require very different technologies. Geothermal is a great fit for former oil and gas workers. In fact, some of the folks working on developing new geothermal technologies are senior executives from the oil and gas industry. Simply put, geothermal energy provides the opportunity for oil and gas companies to leverage what they already know and do to generate renewable energy.

And, there are plenty of wells already in production. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, there are 483,326 gas producing wells that are active in the United States, and it’s forecasted that 22,600 new wells will be created in 2022. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that there are more than 3 million total abandoned oil and gas wells. Why don’t we use these wells to create clean energy and new green jobs for workers?

Over the next decade, society will need a mix of renewable energy and clean energy. We will especially need energies that are always on, regardless of the time of day or the weather. There are significant opportunities for collaboration across industries as we work together to solve the energy crisis.

Oil and gas companies have a huge opportunity to not only survive the transition to clean energy, but also thrive as renewable energy leaders, if they invest in geothermal energy now.

The next step for oil and gas leaders is to collaborate with Geothermal Rising and the geothermal industry. While there are many similarities with supplying oil and gas and supplying geothermal energy, geothermal experts have decades of knowledge on key differences and can help your company come out of the energy transition a winner.

https://www.nsenergybusiness.com/news/why-the-oil-and-gas-industry-should-expand-into-geothermal-energy/

https://energytracker.asia/oil-and-gas-industrys-net-zero-commitments/

https://research.noaa.gov/article/ArtMID/587/ArticleID/2742/Despite-pandemic-shutdowns-carbon-dioxide-and-methane-surged-in-2020

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29072021/inside-clean-energy-geothermal-energy-oil-workers/

https://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/ng_prod_wells_s1_a.htm

Solar converts the heat from the sun to produce energy. It’s gotten a lot of attention in recent years, so let’s explore the pros and cons of solar energy:

Pros:

• Solar power is low-emission. It has a very low carbon footprint and doesn’t cause damage to our environment.
• Solar power is a renewable energy source, so it can be used without “depleting” the original source of energy, i.e., the sun.
• Solar power can be produced and utilized in remote areas that are not connected to energy grids.
• Solar panels have no moving parts and thus produce no noise (no noise pollution).
• In the long run, solar power reduces electric bills.

Cons:

• Solar power is dependent on the sun, so solar energy can’t be produced at night or on cloudy days.
• Storing solar energy is expensive.
• Solar energy requires a lot of space; many solar panels are needed to capture enough energy to provide the power we need.
• There’s a significant cost to purchasing solar panels.
• It produces the least amount of energy when people need the most energy—at night and on cloudy days. This is called the Duck Curve problem.

Wind energy is one of the most common types of renewable energy. It’s quickly growing as an alternate source of electricity, but while there are some pros to wind energy, there are also some downsides:

Pros:

• It’s a renewable and clean energy source; it doesn’t damage the environment with greenhouse gas emissions, and we won’t “run out of wind” as opposed to fossil fuels which replenish slowly.
• It’s relatively low cost to operate and doesn’t require a lot of maintenance.
• It can use land efficiently, e.g., land with turbines on them can also be used for other purposes, such as farming.

Cons:

• Wind turbines can be expensive to install.
• Wind energy produces both noise and visual pollution. Wind turbines can be extremely noisy and because they need to be built high to capture enough wind, they can disrupt otherwise scenic landscapes.
• Wind turbines are limited to locations where wind frequently occurs, so they can’t be installed everywhere. Transporting wind energy requires costly and disruptive transmission lines.
• Wind energy is unpredictable because, well, it needs the wind to blow. Wind turbines need a certain level of wind speed to turn them and produce power, so if it’s not windy enough, there’s no power.

Unfortunately, the blades from wind turbines can harm and kill birds and other species that fly into them.

Hydropower comes from water. It’s used widely and has been a source of alternative energy for many years. But, like any energy source, it has pros and cons:

Pros:

• Hydropower is a renewable, clean energy source that doesn’t release pollution into the air.
• Hydropower can help offset traditional electricity demands during peak times, providing vital energy.
• Hydropower is a more stable source of energy than either solar or wind power because it doesn’t rely on sunlight or strong winds.

Cons:

• Hydropower plants are expensive and infrastructure intensive—you have to build a dam, reservoir, and power-generating turbines—which requires significant capital.
• There are limited locations that are suitable for reservoirs and hydroelectric plants.
• Hydropower has some adverse effects on the environment because it interrupts the natural flow of a river system, leading to issues with water quality and disruption to animals and humans.
• Because hydropower generation relies on river water, droughts can limit the amount of available water. As climate change accelerates, we will likely see more droughts.

Although the number of new nuclear plants has decreased in recent years, nuclear energy still supplies about 20 percent of the electricity in the United States. Here are the pros and cons of nuclear energy:

Pros:

• Nuclear energy produces a high amount of power output and can help reduce demand on our electrical grid.
• Compared to wind and solar power, nuclear energy takes up a relatively smaller portion of land. Wind farms take up 360x more space, and large-scale solar farms use 75x more space.
• Traditional fossil fuels release significant levels of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is the primary cause of global climate change. Nuclear energy produces carbon-free electricity.

Cons:

• Malfunctions at nuclear plants can be catastrophic. We all remember the Three-Mile Island and Chernobyl nuclear disasters. The effects from a nuclear meltdown are devastating and long-lasting.
• Radioactive nuclear waste is an environmental and health hazard. It takes advanced technology to handle it properly, and even when it’s “safely packaged,” there can still be leaks that cause enormous damage.
• There are very high up-front costs to build nuclear plants. The nuclear reactors are complex and require numerous layers of safety precautions to be built into them, increasing the cost significantly.
• Nuclear plants are powered by uranium, which is a non-renewable resource. Uranium exists in limited amounts in the earth’s crust and once we use it, it’s gone.

How does geothermal energy stack up against solar, wind, hydropower, and nuclear energy? Here are the pros and cons of geothermal energy:

Pros:

• Geothermal energy is always on and always available, so it’s a reliable power source at night, during cloudy days, and when it’s not windy.
• It has a very small land footprint and causes no noise pollution.
• Geothermal plants are safer—they won’t have a nuclear meltdown or create nuclear waste that contaminates the earth.
• Geothermal energy can be used for large and small-scale needs. It can do everything from melting the ice from sidewalks and heating homes to powering entire regions.
• Geothermal infrastructure is not finite because there’s an endless supply of energy from the earth.
• It helps solve the Duck Curve problem.

Cons:

• Geothermal plants require a significant initial investment, although they pay off in the long run.
• High temperature geothermal power production has very specific geographic needs, though new technologies like EGS and Closed-Loop Geothermal are expanding the range of potential locations.
• Some geothermal plants do emit low levels of carbon dioxide, although it’s a fraction of the emissions from fossil fuel plants.
• Geothermal energy requires drilling into the earth to access and harness the earth’s power.

Geothermal can lead the energy revolution. While we need a portfolio of renewable energy approaches, geothermal has clear advantages. It is less constrained by shifting weather patterns than other sources of energy. It is truly sustainable and offers a minimal environmental impact. It is also much safer and free of dangerous byproducts, especially compared to nuclear power. 

Explore how geothermal energy works and connect with Geothermal Rising as we work together to use the earth to save the earth.

https://www.greenmatch.co.uk/blog/2014/08/5-advantages-and-5-disadvantages-of-solar-energy 

https://www.energysage.com/about-clean-energy

Brian manages Geothermal Rising's website and library database, and is your primary contact for any library services. He also conducts industry research and formats and edits many of our publications, as well as serving as staff liaison to several of GR's committees.

Brian is a professional librarian with an M.A. and an MLIS, and had held a variety of library and archive management positions prior to joining Geothermal Rising.

Vicki has been an association professional specializing in meeting and event management for nearly 25 years planning meetings for a wide variety of associations including healthcare, scientific, trade and other not-for-profit environments. Prior to joining Association Headquarters, Vicki worked for the Healthcare Distribution Alliance (HDA) where she led HDA’s successful efforts to reimagine their annual conferences and seminars increasing attendee, sponsor and exhibitor participation and overall attendee satisfaction.  She joined AH in 2019 and has been the meeting manager for the Project Management Institute Washington DC Chapter, Geothermal Rising, the National Airduct Cleaners Association and the Society For Biomaterials. She is working towards her Certified Meeting Professional and Digital Event Strategist designations. A consummate professional, she is committed to delivering superior programming and events that add value to the organization while creating a lasting, memorable experience for participants.

Dana is your point of contact on the Geothermal Rising team for Corporate and Policy Committee memberships.  In addition, she'll work with you, to help your organization achieve its marketing goals through sponsorship, exhibit, and advertising opportunities. 

Dana's skill set and experience working with non-profits and trade groups help ensure that Geothermal Rising is offering our industry partners comprehensive marketing and member-based solutions.  In her role as Industry Relations Manager, she'll work to ensure your partnership with GR meets and exceeds your expectations.

Graham manages Geothermal Rising's member database, assists on many facets of the annual Geothermal Rising Conference, and serves as the primary contact for all member services.  Graham has worked in member services for several years, most recently for a New Jersey energy trade association.