It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Saturday, January 07, 2023
Dark, slithering creature seen by boat captain near NC coast stirs debate. What is it?
Thu, January 5, 2023
A creature that looked equal parts alligator, fish and eel has become a subject of online debate, after being recorded undulating in waters off southeastern North Carolina.
The video has been viewed more than 123,000 times since being shared on Facebook on Jan. 3 by Chasin Tails Outdoors Bait & Tackle in Atlantic Beach.
“Something you don’t see everyday,” the shop wrote. “Whales or the Loch News Monster in the port this morning. Never seen one inside the inlet like this!”
The 43-second video shows the creature surfaced with a sputter of air, then began slithering like a snake — with an alligator-like head sticking out of the water.
Nearly 1,400 reactions and comments had been posted as of Jan. 5, including guesses that it was an alligator, lost whale calf, large dolphin or a manatee. Most of those are uncommon in Bogue Sound this time of year, though right whales are migrating along the coast for winter.
“Now that is strange. Odd looking head for sure,” David Ford wrote on Facebook.
“That’s a gator. You can see the eyes are on top of its head,” Mike Williams wrote.
“Definitely not a gator! They do not swim like that at all,” Katie Johnson said.
“looked like a baby whale got lost from its mother.”
“Wasn’t sure at first,” he wrote. “Thought it was a group of dolphins splashing
around until it swam right beside the boat.”
Chasin Tails Outdoors Bait & Tackle did not offer a definitive answer.
It is located on a barrier island along Bogue Sound.
RIGHT WING POLITICAL CORRECTNESS 'Woke mind virus'? 'Corporate wokeness'? Why red America has declared war on corporate America
Jessica Guynn, USA TODAY Thu, January 5, 2023
Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Twitter and Tesla, calls it "woke mind virus." Populist Republicans like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis call it "corporate wokeness."
'Woke' – a watchword long embraced by the Black community – has been co-opted by GOP activists, officials and lawmakers as a culture-war rallying cry against progressive activism. And conservatives across red America are using it to score political points as they try to stop corporations from taking public positions on political issues and social causes from abortion to immigration.
“We will never surrender to the woke mob," DeSantis said during the inaugural address for his second term this week. "Florida is where woke goes to die.”
Republicans say they're fighting back against the unchecked influence of liberal activists in executive suites and boardrooms.
“None of this has anything to do with running their companies,” said Matt Schlapp, chair of the American Conservative Union. “Is it really the job of a corporate CEO to be the head of the DNC, the head of the AFL-CIO or the head of Planned Parenthood?” Why conservatives are fighting 'woke' corporations
In a report prepared for the National Center for Public Policy Research, “Balancing the Boardroom: How conservatives can combat corporate wokeness,” the movement lays out its reasoning: “American corporations, hyper-politicized and corrupt as many may be, are among the few public institutions where there’s still a fighting chance to reverse course.”
Corporations have emerged as an important force in American life, says David Primo, a professor of political science and business administration at the University of Rochester.
“They are doing this because they believe the corporate voice matters,” Primo said. “If they didn’t think the corporate voice mattered, nobody would be pressuring corporations.”
Republican campaigns target CRT and ESG
The two largest conservative campaigns have gone after racial justice and sustainable investing.
Republicans appropriated the term critical race theory, or CRT, to take aim at how racism is taught, not just in schools but in private companies.
The GOP is also going after ESG, short for environmental, social, governance principles, claiming that the nation's top money managers – BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street – are pursuing an ideological agenda at the expense of financial returns.
These campaigns are expected to grow with Republicans in control of the House and most state legislatures and DeSantis emerging as a probable 2024 presidential candidate.
DeSantis is chief ‘woke’ warrior in GOP
DeSantis has built his brand, in part, on attacking corporate America, from punishing Walt Disney for criticizing a state law limiting education about gender identity and sexual orientation in public classrooms to passing a law that restricts what kind of diversity training corporations can offer employees (legislation he dubbed the “Stop WOKE” Act.)
“Corporations still have employees asking for more not less, so I think they will have to do this dance, where in-house they talk about inclusivity and how they treat their employees and about what kind of philanthropy they engage in and so forth," said Abhinav Gupta, associate professor of management at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business. "But staying out of the political news cycle is something they definitely want to do.” This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ron DeSantis, Republicans are at war with 'woke' business: This is why
Mexico’s Leading Presidential Hopeful Would Tighten State Grip on Power Sector
Nacha Cattan and Maya Averbuch Thu, January 5, 2023
(Bloomberg) -- Mexico’s leading presidential hopeful Claudia Sheinbaum, who sees herself as the natural successor to Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, wants to accomplish what even her mentor wasn’t able to: a constitutional change that would cement state control over the power sector.
The mayor of Mexico City outlined her plan to strengthen the ailing electricity utility owned by the state during an interview last week. The issue gained renewed urgency, she said, after the energy crisis seen in Europe, “where too much privatization has generated a diverse set of problems.”
“A state electricity industry strengthens the electric system, and at the same time the private sector can participate,” limited to a 46% share of the market, Sheinbaum said at City Hall. “If we manage to have a balance, based on clear agreements, then the system can grow in the future to meet all the needs of the country and strengthen renewable sources of energy.”
AMLO, as the Mexican president is known, has tried to restore state control over the energy sector, but has faced stiff opposition from lawmakers who say his plan would harm competition and hinder Mexico’s ability to meet environmental commitments. One of his electricity bills was blocked in congress, and another was approved but remains caught up in court cases. He has still managed to boost the state’s dominance of the sector through changes to regulation and negotiation of permits, helping set off a trade dispute with the US and Canada.
But Sheinbaum promised that, if elected president in June 2024 with a strong congressional base, she would seek to amend the constitution to ensure that state utility Comision Federal de Electricidad controls at least 54% of the electricity market — AMLO’s stated goal. The company known as CFE has said in the past that it generates about half of Mexico’s electricity, and Lopez Obrador worries it could quickly lose market share if its preponderance over private companies isn’t guaranteed in the constitution.
“It’s necessary to strengthen CFE and be clear about what kinds of private investments are allowed,” Sheinbaum said.
By giving preference to its state-owned power generator, Mexico puts at risk investments in renewable energy projects from foreign companies including Spain’s Iberdrola SA and Acciona Energia SA, as well as France’s EDF and Engie SA, critics say.
To be sure, there’s no guarantee that Lopez Obrador’s successor, if elected, would have a larger congressional support than he currently has. Sheinbaum is polling far ahead of any potential candidate from opposition parties but only slightly ahead of other names the president has cited as his potential torch bearers. And while the mayor is seen by people close to the president as his top pick, AMLO himself has denied having made a choice. It’s up to the ruling Morena party to decide its candidate through a survey this year.
Green Initiatives
The mayor’s opinions on energy and the economy hew closely to those of AMLO, but at the same time she expresses more interest in environmental projects and a future transition out of fossil fuels.
Sheinbaum, 60, said she’d like to bring her climate-friendly projects from the city, such as electrifying part of the public transportation system, to a national scale. She wants to boost public investment in research and development for green initiatives. While her climate focus would represent a shift from AMLO, critics of the current administration have long said that giving preference to CFE, which has aging hydroelectric infrastructure and slow-growing solar projects, would discourage private green investments.
She also avoided saying whether she would raise taxes, something AMLO has vowed never to do. That topic, she said, needs to be discussed with business leaders so that it isn’t a “topic of conflict but rather consensus.
On most other matters, however, Sheinbaum’s and AMLO’s views are in sync.
She would respect the central bank’s autonomy, but concurs with the president that the board should pay more attention to economic growth and not just inflation. In the same vein, she wants public policy to focus less on expanding gross domestic product and more on boosting development and well-being.
She would substantially raise the minimum wage each year, as the president has done, and has promised to continue the current administration’s fiscal austerity.
Read More: AMLO Says He’d Like Mexico to Cut Interest Rates to Boost Growth
The mayor declined to say how her administration would significantly differ from AMLO’s, arguing that it’s not the time for her to be making such distinctions since the president still has almost two years left in office.
Sheinbaum served as the capital’s environment minister when AMLO became mayor in 2000, and later headed the city’s populous Tlalpan district. She was part of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that won the Nobel Prize in 2007.
She thinks she’s well positioned to become Mexico’s next president because it’s time for a female leader to take on the job.
“There are people who want a female president and our movement is doing well in the polls,” she said. “So there’s a really good chance this will happen.”
--With assistance from Amy Stillman.
(Update with trade disputes in fourth, IPCC Nobel Peace Prize in 16th paragraph)
Mexican scientists sound alarm over plan to build railway throughpristine jungles
REUTERS
Parts of Mexico's remote southern jungles have barely changed since the time of the ancient Maya.
In the eyes of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a railway his government is building -- known as the Tren Maya -- will bring modern connectivity to areas for generations deprived of significant economic benefits.
But the railway and its hasty construction also critically endanger pristine wilderness and ancient cave systems beneath the jungle floor, droves of scientists and environmental activists said.
PHOTO: A house stands on the edge of forest which has been cleared for construction of section 5 of the new Mayan Train route, in Solidaridad, Quintana Roo, Mexico, November 6, 2022. (Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)
The railway "is splitting the jungle in half," said Ismael Lara, a guide who takes tourists to a cave that shelters millions of bats near the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve. Lara fears the train, due to pass close by, will disrupt wildlife routes and attract too much development to fragile ecosystems.
Over almost a year, Reuters photographed construction at points along the full length of the planned rail track, documenting the evolution of the flagship project that Lopez Obrador has pledged to finish by the end of 2023.
PHOTO: Workers clear trees for the construction of section 4 of the new Mayan Train route, near Nuevo Xcan, Chemax, Mexico, March 3, 2022. (Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)
The 910 miles of rail are set to carry diesel and electric trains through the Yucatan Peninsula and connect Mexico's top tourist destination Cancun to the ancient Mayan temples of Chichen Itza and Palenque.
The railway has deeply divided Mexicans and the controversies surrounding the construction exemplify struggles developing countries across the globe face to balance economic progress with environmental responsibility.
PHOTO: A bulldozer clears jungle for the construction of section 4 of the new Mayan Train route, near Nuevo Xcan, Chemax, Yucatan, Mexico, March 3, 2022. (Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)
FONATUR, Mexico's tourism agency charged with the project, has said the railway will lift more than a million people out of poverty and could create up to 715,000 new jobs by 2030.
Construction costs are seen at up to $20 billion, Lopez Obrador said in July.
But with the project already billions of dollars over budget and behind schedule, scientists and activists said the government cut corners in its environmental risk assessments in a bid to complete it while Lopez Obrador is still in office.
PHOTO: A tree is marked with a red arrow at the construction site of section 5 of the new Mayan Train route, in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico April 23, 2022. (Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)
Earlier this month, United Nations experts warned the railway's status as a national security project allowed the government to side-step usual environmental safeguards, and called on the government to protect the environment in line with global standards.
FONATUR defended the speed with which the studies were produced. "Years are not required, expertise, knowledge and integration capacity are required," it said in response to questions from Reuters. It declined to comment on the U.N. statement.
PHOTO: Ismael Lara, a tour guide, shows tourists a map of the area before visiting a bat cave located in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve close to where section 7 of the new Mayan train route is being built, in Calakmul, Campeche, Mexico November 8, 2022. (Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)
Cenotes
The Tren Maya route cuts a swathe up to 46 feet wide through some of the world's most unique ecosystems, bringing the modern world closer to vulnerable species such as jaguars and bats.
It will pass above a system of thousands of subterranean caves carved out from the region's soft limestone bedrock by water over millions of years.
Crystalline pools known as cenotes punctuate the Yucatan Peninsula, where the limestone surface has fallen in to expose the groundwater. The world's longest known underground river passes through the caves, which have also been the site of discoveries such as ancient human fossils and Maya artifacts like a canoe estimated to be more than 1,000 years old.
PHOTO: Gumersindo Martinez, 68, walks next to an unfinished house after his house was demolished to build section 2 of the new Mayan Train route, in Tenabo, Campeche, Mexico, May 14, 2022. (Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)
If built badly, the railway risks breaking through the fragile ground, including into yet-to-be explored caves below, said Emiliano Monroy-Rios, a Mexican geochemist with Northwestern University who has extensively studied the area's caves and cenotes.
Diesel, he added, could also leak into the network of subterranean pools and rivers, the main source of fresh water on the peninsula.
With less than 20% of the subterranean system believed to have been mapped, according to several scientists interviewed by Reuters, such damage could limit important geological discoveries.
PHOTO: Women prepare food during celebrations for The Faithful Departed in the town of Buena Vista close to where the new Mayan train route is being built, in Bacalar, Quintana Roo, Mexico, November 8, 2022. (Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)
The government's environmental impact study for Section 5, the most controversial stretch, said environmental impacts are "insignificant" and have been adequately mitigated. The study said the risk of collapse was taken into account in the engineering of the tracks, and that the area will be observed through a prevention program.
Dozens of scientists disagree, writing in open letters that the assessments are riddled with problems, including outdated data, the omission of recently discovered caves and a lack of input from local hydrology experts.
PHOTO: David Ku, 3, plays in a hammock during celebrations for The Faithful Departed in the town of Buena Vista close to where the new Mayan train route is being built, in Bacalar, Quintana Roo, Mexico, November 8, 2022. (Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)
"They don't want to recognize the fragility of the land," said Fernanda Lases, a Merida-based scientist with the National Autonomous University of Mexico, calling the problems identified "highly worrisome."
The names of the 70 experts who participated in the government study were redacted from the publication.
PHOTO: Women wearing traditional dresses order food, close to where section 2 of the new Mayan Train route is being built, in Tenabo, Campeche, Mexico, May 13, 2022. (Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)
One piece of research used by the government to support its conclusions was taken from a blog by Monroy-Rios, who said he was never contacted by the authors of the report. His research highlights the need for extensive surveillance and monitoring for any infrastructure project in the region. He said this has not happened.
"I guess their conclusions were pre-formatted," Monroy-Rios said. "They want to do it fast and that's part of the problem. There's no time for the proper exploration."
PHOTO: Environmental activist Cristina Nolasco, 32, explores the Yorogana cave, which she says has been affected by the construction of the new Mayan Train route, in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico, November 6, 2022. (Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)
An expert who participated in the reports and spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said the work had been done quickly.
"There was pressure, especially due to delivery times," the expert said.
The expert expressed concern the government would not properly mitigate risks experts had highlighted in the government's impact studies or dedicate the necessary resources to the train's maintenance.
PHOTO: Environmental activist Cristina Nolasco, 32, explores the Yorogana cave which she says has been affected by the construction of the new Mayan Train route, in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico, November 5, 2022. (Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)
FONATUR said the project would have resources and follow-up care in the future, including programs established for environmental protection.
"The Mayan Train project is of course safe, monitored and regulated by the environmental authorities as has happened up to now," the agency told Reuters.
Inecol, Mexico's ecology institute, which produced the reports, did not respond to repeated requests for comment. A spokesman for Lopez Obrador did not respond to a request for comment.
PHOTO: A protestor holds a sign as activists and locals protest the environmental impact of the new Mayan Train route, outside the Yorogana cave in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico, November 5, 2022. (Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)
Forgotten southeast
Despite the concerns about the railway, it has the support of many in villages that for decades have felt largely forgotten in national development plans.
In Xkuncheil, a small dusty town of about 140 people on Section 2 of the train that runs through Campeche state, Luz Elba Damas Jimenez, 69, owns a small store selling soda and snacks near the tracks. Many of her neighbors, especially the young men, are working on the project, she said. She also has more customers now.
PHOTO: Rosario Jimenez stands in front of her new house after being relocated due to the construction of section 1 of the new Mayan Train route, in the town of Haro, Escarcega, Campeche, Mexico, May 12, 2022. (Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)
"The government is working on good things for the country. ... Sometimes there just isn't work in these small towns, but now they have jobs," she said. "The truth is that we have benefited."
Martha Rosa Rosado, who was offered a government payout to move when an earlier plan for the tracks was set to go through her home in Campeche's Camino Real neighborhood, echoed those sentiments.
"No government ever remembers the southeast. Everything goes to the north, and the southeast is forgotten," she said as she grilled pork outside her home of 40 years.
PHOTO: Workers drive machinery during construction of section 4 the new Mayan Train route, near Uayma, Yucatan, Mexico, May 14, 2022. (Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)
Some 280 miles away, in Playa del Carmen, near the beach resorts bustling with tourists, a group of volunteers -- clad in helmets and head lamps -- descend into the caves at weekends to monitor their condition.
Roberto Rojo, a biologist in the group, said the train will put the entire ecosystem above and below ground at risk.
PHOTO: A man on a motorcycle crosses the old train tracks where section 3 of the new Mayan Train route was planned to be built before protests moved construction to the outskirts of the city, in Chochola, Yucatan, Mexico, May 16, 2022. (Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)
"They are doing studies now that needed to be done at least four years ago," Rojo said inside one cave directly below where the train is due to pass.
Behind him, tree roots descend from the ceiling of the cave like coarse rope, stretching down to be quenched by the water pooled at his feet.
"This is our life. We are putting in risk and in danger the stability of this ecosystem," he said.
PHOTO: Biologist Roberto Rojo, 46, prepares to show activists and locals the Yorogana cave, which he says has been affected by the construction of the new Mayan Train route, in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico, November 5, 2022. (Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)
Scientists stumble upon tiny, 1-foot snake in rainforest — and discover a new species
Photo from Ortega-Andrade, et al. via the European Journal of Taxonomy
Scientists in the rainforest of Ecuador stumbled upon a tiny snake — and discovered a new species, according to a study.
The scientists were studying snakes when they found a number of “unique” specimens that did not fit in an existing species classification, according to the study published in the European Journal of Taxonomy on Dec. 29.
The snakes were small — only growing about 1-foot long — and had similar coloring to boa constrictors, the study explained. Photos taken by AFP on Jan. 6 show the tan snake’s speckled with black spots, some with faded coloring.
Researchers classified the animal as a type of dwarf boa snake and named it Tropidophis cacuangoae.
The study is based on two specimens collected in the cloud forest of northeastern Ecuador. Notably, x-rays of the male dwarf boa showed “pelvic remnants,” scientists said.
The snake is likely native to Ecuador and was given a name to match, scientists said.
The animal was named after Dolores Caucango, an indigenous Ecuadorian woman known for her work as a feminist and indigenous rights activist, the study said. Caucango founded the Ecuadorian Indigenous Federation and the first bilingual schools in Ecuador, teaching students in Spanish and Quechua.
Researchers called for the new species to be granted “threatened species status” due to its limited geographic range. The study also noted further research was needed to assess the conservation needs and current population status of the newly identified dwarf boa.
Amateur archaeologist uncovers 20,000-year-old ‘writing’ system
Story by By JERUSALEM POST STAFF • Yesterday
An amateur archaeologist found a previously unknown "writing" system used to make a lunar calendar by hunter-gatherers some 20,000 years ago during the Ice Age.
The researcher, Ben Bacon, found that cave drawings were used to record details about the timing of animal reproductive cycles.
Bacon, as well as a professor from University College London and two others from Durham University, published his findings in a peer-reviewed study in the Cambridge Archaeological Journal on Thursday.
The writing system is believed to have been developed at least 10,000 years before other comparable systems.
After spending numerous hours researching what he called a "proto-writing" system, Bacon showed his research to the team of academics and they encouraged him to continue his studies, according to The Guardian.
“The results show that ice age hunter-gatherers were the first to use a systemic calendar and marks to record information about major ecological events within that calendar.”Prof. Paul Pettitt, Durham University archaeologist
“The results show that ice age hunter-gatherers were the first to use a systemic calendar and marks to record information about major ecological events within that calendar,” said Prof. Paul Pettitt, an archaeologist at Durham University and member of the research team.
“We’re able to show that these people – who left a legacy of spectacular art in the caves of Lascaux and Altamira – also left a record of early timekeeping that would eventually become commonplace among our species,” Pettitt added.
The research process
In his research, Bacon attempted to decode sequences of dots and other markings found in over 600 images on cave walls across Europe by searching for patterns in cave drawings and previous findings.
The researchers found from the birth cycles of present-day animals that the number of markings related to Ice Age animals was a lunar record of their mating.
The team did this by "testing ecologically grounded hypotheses about prey behavior using a database of such depiction-associated sequences."
"We reason that investigating the numbers of signs associated with images and the position of within line/dot sequences provide useful indicators of their meaning, based on the uncontroversial assumption that dots/lines represent numbers," the researchers added, noting that the proto-writing system was used over a large geographical area for tens of thousands of years.
SELF INFLICTED WOUND
Amazon layoff signals more pain for tech sector as recession fears mount
Thu, January 5, 2023 By Nivedita Balu
(Reuters) - The massive job cuts by Amazon.com Inc, one of the biggest private employers in the United States, show the wave of layoff sweeping through the tech sector could stretch into 2023 as companies rush to cut costs, analysts said on Thursday.
As a demand boom during the pandemic rapidly turns into bust, tech companies shed more than 150,000 workers in 2022, according to tracking site Layoffs.fyi, a number that is growing as growth in the world's biggest economies start to slow.
The layoffs brought back memories of the dot-com bubble at the start of the century and the 2008 financial crisis when tech companies cut jobs in thousands to reduce spending.
"They're trying to protect themselves so that they're not caught in the 2008-2009 cycle that we had," said Greg Selker, managing director at executive search firm Stanton Chase.
During the global pandemic, companies ramped up hiring only to reverse course in 2022, with the tech sector leading the job cuts, which according to executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc, surged 649% from 2021.
"It is also giving them an advantage to frankly be more responsible for some of the aggressive hiring that occurred during the pandemic," Selker said.
The drop in demand amid a steep rise in borrowing costs has led several executives from the sector to admit they hired in excess during the COVID-19 crisis.
Meta Platforms Inc axed 11,000 jobs last year, with Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg saying he had wrongly expected that the pandemic boom would keep on going.
Tech giants Microsoft and Google-parent Alphabet have already hinted at cost-cuts, including layoffs.
Salesforce Inc top boss Marc Benioff said on Wednesday the enterprise software company had hired "too many people" as he announced plans to cut 10% of the jobs.
For Amazon, growth in its cloud unit that brings most of its profit has slowed as businesses cut back spending, while its online retail unit is reeling from strained consumer budgets due to rising prices.
"Some of us will remember 2000 to 2003 after a massive bubble fed by cheap money, high investor expectations and plentiful cash," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
"Whether we see a repetition or not will be very interesting as there is a danger of that."
(Reporting by Nivedita Balu, Yuvraj Malik and Bansari Mayur Kamdar in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
Geothermal energy poised for boom, as U.S. looks to follow Iceland’s lead
Some experts believe geothermal development could help reduce American emissions and help avert catastrophic climate change.
LONG READ
Ben Adler ·Senior Editor Sat, January 7, 2023 The Climeworks AG Orca direct air capture and storage facility, right, and Hellisheidi geothermal power plant, left, in Hellisheidi, Iceland, in September 2021.
(Arnaldur Halldorsson/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The small island nation of Iceland is known among environmentalists for its low greenhouse emissions — per capita, roughly one-third of those of the United States — thanks in part to its reliance on clean, geothermal energy derived from the more than 30 active volcanic systems that also power its famous hot springs.
Yet, in terms of total geothermal energy output, the U.S. is actually the world’s single biggest generator of geothermal energy — and some experts believe further development of that sector, including digging deep into the Earth, could reduce American emissions and help avert catastrophic climate change.
“It just really seems as though geothermal has an upward trajectory at the moment, in terms of innovation, funding, interest at all levels of business, but also the government,” Kelly Blake, president of the board of directors at Geothermal Rising, a geothermal-focused trade association, told Politico earlier this week.
“We’re kind of on the cusp of moving into the cost-effective range [for geothermal], just like we did with solar, over the next 20 years,” Roland Horne, a professor of earth sciences at Stanford University, told Yahoo News.
At present, geothermal energy, which is derived by using steam heat from underground to generate power, accounts for less than 1% of the U.S. electricity portfolio. Unlike wind and solar energy, which do not produce as much energy in certain conditions, geothermal energy is much more constant. Yet the cost of tapping it can be expensive in places that require extensive digging. In 2021, a kilowatt hour of electricity generated by geothermal cost an average of $3,991 in G20 countries, compared to $857 for utility-scale solar power and $1,325 for on-shore wind. A geothermal plant outside Myvatn, Iceland, in on April 2017. (Loic Venance/AFP via Getty Images)
Recent technological advances, such as “enhanced geothermal systems,” also known as EGS in the industry jargon, may solve that problem, however. Traditionally, geothermal has only been economical in places like Iceland, where heat and water are close to the Earth’s surface. In an EGS, much as in a fracking well, fluid is injected deep underground, causing fractures to open in the rock, which allows hot fluid to rise from far below.
That’s why in June, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced a $165 million investment in geothermal energy research and deployment, and the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law included $84 million for research into enhanced geothermal demonstration projects.
The private sector is also taking tentative steps into geothermal energy. A slew of geothermal energy startups have each raised millions of dollars in capital. Last month, the oil and gas giant Chevron partnered its Chevron New Energies with Sweden’s Baseload Capital to develop geothermal projects in the United States. In 2021, Chevron and BP invested $40 million in Eavor Technologies, a Canadian geothermal energy company. In November of that year, Hawaiian Electric, the Aloha State’s energy utility, unveiled a plan to increase its geothermal generation capacity to help meet its goal of a 70% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
“It’s like solar: If you look at solar 20 years ago, nobody’s interested in solar because it costs too much. But as solar has grown, the cost has come down as it’s improved in scale,” Horne said. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, is greeted by Iceland's minister of foreign affairs, Gudlaugur Thor Thordarson, at a meeting of Arctic Council Ministers in Reykjavik, Iceland, on May 19, 2021. (Brynjar Gunnarsson/AP Photo)
“It’s unbelievable how geothermal has gone under the radar,” Iceland’s environment minister, Gudlaugur Thór Thórdarson, told Yahoo News. Iceland’s use of geothermal for heating and a mix of geothermal and hydropower for electricity has given it uninterrupted access to affordable heat and power, insulating its economy from the natural gas price shocks being felt by the rest of Europe since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Now, when you see the bills [in] electricity and the gas prices go up everywhere — at least, around us — it doesn’t affect us,” he said.
“This can be done all around the world,” Thórdarson added. “You don't need to be the most active volcanic island in the world to use geothermal.”
In January 2022, a Danish company signed an agreement to develop the largest geothermal heating plant in the European Union, and Icelandic companies are currently developing geothermal heating and energy projects in other countries. Under a partnership between Iceland’s Orka Energy Holding Ehf and China’s state oil and gas company Sinopec, the 390,000-person Chinese county of Xiong is being converted to rely solely on geothermal for residential heating.
Wells roughly 1,500 to 1,900 meters (4,900 to 6,200 feet) deep bring up water at 70 degrees Celsius (158 degrees Fahrenheit) that is used to heat homes. In an area where families previously burned coal for heat, the result has been a dramatic cut in carbon emissions and conventional air pollutants like smog. Orka and the Icelandic firm Mannvit are also building power plants that will produce electricity from geothermal in countries including Sloveniaand Hungary.
“And we can do it in a lot of other places,” Thórdarson said. “It’s not very complicated. It’s just drilling for hot water.” The Reykjanes geothermal power station is pictured on March 23, 2017, in Reykjanes, at the southwestern tip of Iceland. (Halldor Kolbeins/AFP via Getty Images)
Geothermal accounts for 6% of the electricity produced in California and 10% in Nevada. Hawaii, Utah, Oregon and Idaho have geothermal plants as well. Like Iceland, where 27% of the electricity and heating in 90% of homes comes from geothermal, these western states have volcanic activity that brings heat close to the Earth’s surface. That makes geothermal more economically viable than in the eastern half of the U.S., where heat tends to be buried deeper underground.
“The reason we have [geothermal] in the western states, and the reason they have it in Iceland, is basically geological advantage,” Horne said. “If you go to New York state, you don’t find that sort of recent volcanic activity, so to get to higher temperatures, you’ve got to drill a lot deeper, and that, of course, is expensive.”
Skeptics of geothermal’s potential note the technological challenges to drilling deeper.
“You have to remove all the rock you’ve cut from the hole, which gets harder and harder as the hole gets deeper,” writes Alice Friedemann, author of “Life After Fossil Fuels: A Reality Check on Alternative Energy,” on her website, Energy Skeptic. “The deeper you go, the hotter it gets, and the more expensive the drilling equipment gets, using special metallurgy.” The Strokkur geyser in the Haukadalur geothermal park in Reykjavik, Oct. 21, 2022. (Jorge Mantilla/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Some energy companies hope to facilitate deeper drilling through EGS, which offers the possibility of a geothermal boom similar to the way fracking has transformed oil and gas extraction. The Department of Energy’s Geothermal Technologies Office, which supports EGS research and demonstration projects, calls EGS “the next frontier for renewable energy deployment.”
“There have been more than 40 projects worldwide of so-called ‘enhanced geothermal systems,’” Horne said. “There’s even been some commercial ones in Germany and France, but at the moment, the cost is higher than other resources, which is what’s held it back.”
Horne expects that over the next decade or so, increased research and development in EGS will bring the cost down enough to make geothermal energy economically competitive.
“[Geothermal] is sort of the unwanted stepchild of renewable energy,” Geoffrey Garrison, vice president and senior geochemist at AltaRock Energy, a geothermal energy company, told Yahoo News. “The marginal cost of electricity from geothermal is more than solar and wind. Solar’s gotten so cheap, and wind has gotten so cheap, that when the power utilities look to renewables, those are the ones they go to.”
Since wind and solar are intermittent power sources, they need to be complemented with “peaker plants,” which burn coal or gas to even out the ups and downs in solar or wind production. Geothermal doesn’t have that problem. An array of solar panels and windmills in Kern County, an hour north of Los Angeles, on Nov. 15, 2022, near Mojave, Calif. (George Rose/Getty Images)
Garrison is working on making geothermal energy cost-competitive by finding cheaper ways of drilling deeper, where the heat is greater and would deliver more electricity production. Altarock is building a demonstration project at the Newberry Volcano in Oregon, to bring up water of more than 400 degrees Centigrade from 14,000 feet below ground. At 374 degrees Centigrade, water reaches a state known as “supercritical,” at which it flows with the ease of gas but carries the energy density of a liquid, so it would provide far more bang for the buck when piped to the surface.
“You couple that with the fact that, at the surface, power plants work much more efficiently at higher temperatures,” Garrison said. “So a power plant using an input of 400C is going to be twice as efficient as 200C water.”
Bringing up water that hot in states like New York would require going 20,000 to 30,000 feet below ground. So, with support from DOE, AltaRock is currently working in a laboratory with a company called Quaise Energy on using millimeter wave technology — essentially a heat ray — to vaporize rock.
Whether anything that futuristic pans out, experts and industry observers say the U.S. geothermal energy industry may be on the cusp of its own, fracking-like boom.
Still, even enhanced geothermal could be limited in scope. The DOE estimates that there is potentially 40 times as much economically viable geothermal capacity as is currently generated in the continental U.S. But if that were all developed, it would still represent only 10% of current U.S. electricity capacity. The John L. Featherstone Hudson Ranch Power 1 geothermal facility produces electrical power from underground volcanic-heated steam, on May 10, 2021, near Calipatria, Calif. (George Rose/Getty Images)
Skeptics point out that enhanced geothermal systems will have plenty of technical obstacles. Friedemann’s list includes, among other things, water escaping into the rock cracks, the need for materials that can withstand incredibly high temperatures, and the fact that new techniques that work in one area may not apply everywhere, given the variability in geology around the country.
Then there are the potential political and economic roadblocks, such as objections of nearby residents who — like those who have sometimes blocked fracked gas wells — may worry about chemical exposure and earthquakes that could be triggered by injecting liquid into the Earth. There are also steep costs that utilities would have to bear, such as bringing transmission lines to the sites of future geothermal power plants and the fact that a water-intensive process may not be feasible in areas with water scarcity.
“The depth to be drilled down to is so deep that it is likely this technology will always be too expensive and use more energy to drill than obtained,” Friedemann concludes.
Nonetheless, oil and gas companies are increasingly interested. “Baker Hughes, one of the largest drilling companies in the world, is expanding its geothermal business and has formed a partnership with Continental Resources and Chesapeake Energy — two giants in the independent oil and gas sector — to test whether they can profitably turn spent natural gas wells into geothermal facilities,” Politico recently reported. A natural gas flare stack at an oil well in Midland, Texas, on April 4, 2022. (Jordan Vonderhaar/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
It makes sense, geothermal industry leaders say, because oil and gas companies have the technology and know-how to drill deep below the ground.
“Over the last 15 years, huge numbers of wells have been drilled in the United States because of the shale revolution,” said Sarah Jewett, head of strategy at Fervo Energy, a geothermal energy company that has raised over $177 million, told Politico. “All of this technology has evolved and grown, and that can be directly applied to geothermal power.”
That’s what Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm was thinking when she implored oil executives at a December meeting of the National Petroleum Council to pivot to geothermal energy.
“Think: You drill holes, too,” Granholm said. “You go beneath the surface, you know where things are. And fracking really opens up a huge opportunity for enhanced geothermal.”
As Granholm told Yahoo News in November 2021, “The Holy Grail is to identify clean baseload power.” The search for that Holy Grail is on.
