High-tech materials may boost geothermal appeal

RICHLAND, Wash. — New nanomaterials could provide the boost in efficiency needed to make heat beneath the earth’s surface a practical source to generate nearly pollution-free electricity if research at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory proves out.

Geothermal resources largely fell out of favor in the early ’80s for power generation when few places proved to have hot enough rock close enough to the earth’s surface to make geothermal power generation efficient and economical.

But Peter McGrail, a fellow at the Richland lab, thinks the nanomaterials may help make geothermal a more practical resource by allowing efficient energy production at lower temperatures.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer