Hacker News

America's Geothermal Breakthrough Could Unlock a 150-Gigawatt Energy Revolution

22 points by sleepyguy 2 hours ago | 7 comments

I worked on geothermal control systems a decade or so back. There are some less obvious applications for geothermal that reduce electric use (as opposed to generating electricity).

The systems I worked on were for cooling larger structures like commercial greenhouses, gov installations and mansions. 64° degree water would be pumped up from 400' down, run thru a series of chillers (for a/c) and then returned underground - about 20° or 25° warmer.

I always thought this method could be used to provide a/c for neighborhoods, operated as a neighborhood utility. I've not seen it done tho. I've seen neighborhood owned water supplies and sewer systems; it tells me the ownership part seems feasible.

Animats 6 minutes ago

Shallow geothermal works fine for heating. And you can use the ground as a heat sink. But if you want to generate power, you need to get down to where temperatures can boil water. That's deeper than most oil wells. Fervo Energy claims to have found 270C at 3350 meters well depth. That's progress.

wood_spirit 42 minutes ago

In the nordics it is common to have ground source heat pumps (brine in closed circuit pipe or bore hole) that are run backwards in summer to cool the house while actually assisting in storing heat back in the ground to extract in the winter. It’s a bit like regenerative breaking on electric cars.

readthenotes1 42 minutes ago

Isn't that similar to how neighborhood heat pumps work?

https://www.araner.com/blog/district-heating-in-sweden-effic...

Animats 13 minutes ago

Oh, Fervo Energy again. They're trying to IPO, hence the hype. Wikipedia's warning: This article reads like a press release or a news article and may be largely based on routine coverage. (February 2026) This article may have been created or edited in return for undisclosed payments, a violation of Wikipedia's terms of use. It may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia's content policies, particularly neutral point of view.

Here's a more realistic evaluation of Fervo.[1]

[1] https://www.latitudemedia.com/news/what-fervos-approach-says...

taffydavid 47 minutes ago

> Trump has shown support for geothermal energy projects in his second term in office, unlike for other renewable energy sources,

He heard there was drilling involved

ryandrake 22 minutes ago

It really is off-brand for this administration. They are only interested in energy sources you pull out of the ground, burn, and turn into CO2/pollution.