Google to Dig Up $10M for Geothermal Energy

Renewable energy options will remain "boutique" industries unless their costs are cut to make them competitive with coal and other widely used power sources, said Dan Reicher, director for climate change and energy initiatives at Google.org, the company's philanthropic arm.

Reicher spoke to a group of politicians and energy experts at the National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas. The meeting's attendees said they hope to develop a national energy agenda to take to the Democratic and Republican parties at their upcoming conventions.

$10M Into the Ground

"There's a whole set of factors that go into the ultimate cost of energy," Reicher said after announcing a plan for Google to invest more than US$10 million to develop "enhanced geothermal systems" technology to generate energy from rocks deep below the earth's surface.

Google's project replicates traditional geothermal systems deep below the Earth's surface by circulating water through hot rock and running the steam through a turbine that generates electricity.

Google said its goal was to produce one gigawatt of renewable energy capacity -- enough to power a major city.

"These are all high-capital-costs projects," Reicher said.

We Have the Technology

One by one, speakers at the meeting touted the benefits of various energy-related initiatives, including how large-scale solar power could generate thousands of jobs and why wind power could lessen America's dependence on foreign oil. Extending tax credits, establishing caps on carbon emissions and modernizing the nation's electricity grid were also ideas that speakers said would be crucial to building a "green" economy.

General Electric chief executive Jeff Immelt did not attend, but said in a video presentation that the government and the business community need to move forward.

"The technology exists, the time is now," he said. "We need a call to action -- not a call to go to another conference."

Former Presidents, Oil Barons

Former President Bill Clinton laid out a 10-point plan Monday that included expanded research for carbon dioxide storage and accelerating a shift toward plug-in hybrid electric cars.

Texas oil baron T. Boone Pickens also presented his plan to develop wind energy to generate 20 percent of the nation's electricity, then use natural gas to power cars until hydrogen or plug-in electric cars become widely available.

"I don't see many people from my party," said Pickens, a Republican. "I'm making new friends, and that's good."