Tina Riley moved to Idaho recently in search of a new career working in the clean energy transition.The nascent geothermal industry, it said, has a ready workforce of 300,000 engineers, hydrologists, drillers and power plant operators ready to tap right here in this country.
A short drive away, Reilly is getting out of a city owned electric car and walking to check on one of the system's well houses. It's adjacent to a popular trailhead and mountain bike park. Most residents or visitors would have no idea it's even there, more evidence it really is a mostly invisible technology.
"Where the geothermal industry is today is where the oil and gas industry was 150 years ago," says Bryant Jones, executive director of Geothermal Rising, a trade group."You drill for oil and gas where you literally saw oil and gas bubbling up from the surface." "Because of that small size we just don't have enough boots on the ground in state capitols or in Washington, D.C.," he adds."So when policies are being discussed, geothermal is often left out."
There is little data available beyond anecdotes about how many workers are actually transitioning or interested in moving to geothermal from conventional fossil fuels industriesScientists at the Colorado lab have made gains in the last three years improving efficiency and drilling techniques but they're still far behind oil and gas.