Los Angeles TimesNew geothermal maps show vast potential energy...

Los Angeles Times
New geothermal maps show vast potential energy source
November 9, 2011 | 2:40 pm

... But geothermal, like a lot of alternative energy technologies, barely registers in a nation that still depends mostly on oil and coal. Currently, there is only about 3,000 megawatts of installed geothermal energy capacity in the U.S., according to the Southern Methodist University Geothermal Laboratory. That's in a nation with a total energy generating capacity, from all sources, of 1 million megawatts.

Now, the SMU laboratory has released a new series of geothermal maps of the U.S. that show a practically limitless source of energy -- if it can be tapped.

David D. Blackwell, a geophysics professor at the lab, said the "technical potential" of what could be tapped was roughly equal to about 3 million megawatts, or three times the nation's current energy production.

"The technical potential is our best estimate of what actually might be extracted," Blackwell said. "The question is, 'Do we have the will to go ahead and try to really develop it?'"