Heating knowledge

Bailout type Cost to taxpayers (Source: Reuters) Financial bailout package approved this week up to or more than $700 billion Bear Stearns financing $29 billion Fannie Mae and FreddieMac nationalization $200 billion AIG loan and nationalization $85 billion Federal Housing Administration housing rescue bill $300 billion Mortgage community grants $4 billion JPMorgan Chase repayments $87 […]

Most energy-conscious people know that when it comes to home insulation, more is better. But homeowner Alex Cheimets is literally thinking outside the box with his “superinsulation” plan. Rather than just blow in a few more inches of standard cellulose insulation in his attic, Cheimets is in the throes of an ambitious project to seal […]

This large, beautiful, geothermal pool is just one of hundreds of geysers, hot springs, mud pots, steam vents and other features at Yellowstone National Park that is not Old Faithful. YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK–If there’s any doubt that more visitors to this treasure of nature check out Old Faithful than anything else, all you need to […]

If current projects under development are completed, the U.S. could have as much as 10 gigawatts of geothermal power at its disposal, according to a new report from the Geothermal Energy Association. Through several extraction methods, geothermal energy harnesses heat from the Earth for the purpose of heating and cooling buildings or for power generation, […]

Sue Butler decided it was time to cut the cord on fossil fuels. So when her aging gas furnace needed replacing, she turned to the Earth for a solution. She installed a geothermal system–also called a ground-source heat pump, a water-source heat pump, or geo-exchange system–which recently started heating and cooling her Cambridge, Mass. home. […]

Google is investing $10 million in “enhanced” geothermal systems–essentially technology for tapping underground heat–which it says is one of most promising forms of renewable energy. Through its philanthropic arm Google.org, the Internet giant will invest in two geothermal technology start-up companies and give a university grant to study the potential of geothermal resources. Heat underfoot: […]

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–Dan Reicher, the director of climate and energy initiatives at Google.org, says we’re standing on a great untapped source of renewable energy: enhanced geothermal. Reicher spoke on Tuesday to university students at the announcement of the winners of the Clean Energy Prize organized by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and sponsored in part by […]

Google is in discussions with Israeli geothermal company Ormat Technologies, a relationship that could lead to an investment. The Israeli newspaper quoted an interview this past weekend with Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who praised Ormat and the other Israeli companies working in alternative energy. Google co-founder Larry Page also visited an Ormat geothermal plant in […]

If Simbol Mining’s plans work out, within a decade it will deliver one-fourth of the world’s increasing demand for lithium, used in batteries of hybrid and electriccars without creating waste or pollution. The start-up eventually aims to mine more than 100,000 tons of lithium carbonate each year from geothermal sources. That’s more than the current […]