Building an innovation ecosystem for geothermal at and beyond the University of Texas
The newly founded Geothermal Entrepreneurship Organization (GEO) at the University of Texas at Austin is looking at building an innovation ecosystem for geothermal in Texas, wrapping in the oil and gas industry.
A new initiative is pushing entrepreneurship in geothermal energy at the University of Texas at Austin. In an interview published in National Driller, Jamie Beard, Executive Director of GEO, and Eric van Oort, a professor in the Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering and a co-investigator for the group share their view and perspective on this initiative.
The concept driving the new Geothermal Entrepreneurship Organization (GEO) in the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, is to create a green energy future with an “army of drillers from the oil and gas industry”.
GEO started last year with a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, as we reported. It aims to be an “integrator” for deep, high-pressure geothermal systems in Texas and beyond. The group seeks to foster the development and commercialization of technologies that effectively and inexpensively drill to depths up to 30,000 feet and in temperatures over 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Meeting that goal means the feasibility of powering grids anywhere in the world through geothermal energy, not just in hot spots where requisite temperatures sit relatively close to the surface.
For the full and rather interesting interview see link below.
Source: National Driller