It’s the latest step in Google’s efforts to develop alternative energy: a $10.25 million investment in an energy technology called Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS). Rather than extracting heat from the ground a few hundred feet down as traditional geothermal systems do, EGS goes several kilometers deep into the hot rock under the Earth. Extracting 2% of the heat under the continental U.S. could supply more than 2500 times our energy needs, according to an MIT study. Dan Reicher, Director of Climate and Energy Initiatives for Google.org, says EGS could be the “killer app” of energy.
