Says Blackwell in SMU's release, "The proximity of West Virginia's large geothermal resource to east coast population centers has the potential to enhance U.S. energy security, reduce CO2 emissions, and develop high paying clean energy jobs in West Virginia."
The SMU team's research, an extension of an '04 look-see, was done with a grant from Google, which has this Heat Beneath Our Feet website worth a look.Says the paper to be presented, "The high heat flow has been recognized based on interpretation of bottom-hole temperature (BHT) data from oil and gas drilling in the area." (Stop giggling.) And the SMU team says this is a very, very big deal -- as in, the amount of energy this could provide would exceed West Virgina's total current generating capacity, most of which presently comes from coal. And it could be even more widespread than the one spot spotted -- from the Appalachians all the way down to the Ouachita Mountains.
More
