I write in response to “The Energy Gap nobody wants to tussle with,” penned by Dave Marston in the Jan. 4 edition of The Park Record. Mr. Marston aptly notes that we need more than sun, wind, and batteries to power our clean energy economy. He promotes small modular nuclear reactors as the answer. While it is true that these reactors may provide a carbon-free solution, it is one of many great new technologies.
We would be remiss to write off the multitude of new exciting solutions that companies are developing around the world. Investments in clean energy technology are accelerating at breakneck speed. Take, for example, Antora Energy, a company using carbon blocks instead of batteries to store energy from renewable sources.This thermal energy is then delivered to customers as electricity or industrial process heat up to 1500°C, on demand. Antora is electrifying heavy industry with thermal energy storage for zero-carbon heat and power.
Or look at Monolith, a company using methane pyrolysis from natural gas to make hydrogen power, pulling out the carbon black in the process to produce plastics, inks, makeup, and rubber tires. Methane pyrolysis breaks down abundant natural gas into pure hydrogen and carbon, with no release of CO2. Soon, Monolith will use renewable natural gas as the feedstock, making their process carbon negative.
Malta, a company using a heat pump battery to create cost effective large scale thermal energy storage, is creating yet another cool new “energy gap” technology, which will store energy from any power generation source in any location.
Geothermal and pumped hydropower are two other burgeoning energy sources that Mr. Marston summarily dismisses. He states the best geothermal spots have been taken and pumped hydropower faces environmental resistance. Yet all renewable energy sources face some environmental resistance, even wind (bird strikes) and solar (aesthetics). When complete, new pumped hydropower projects in Utah may provide up to five gigawatts of power – more than 50% of Utah’s current energy generating capacity.
Additionally, geothermal drilling applications have exploded in the past year; the Inflation Reduction Act provides significant money to invest in geothermal development. In fact, the FORGE site in Milford, Utah, will use these funds to pioneer geothermal processes in ever more locations.
Even more exciting, Quaise Energy, in conjunction with MIT, is developing millimeter wave drilling technology (long-wavelength lasers), to dig deeper, faster, and safer, allowing us to access the 90% of untapped geothermal energy under our feet. A plus of geothermal energy is that it can employ the established workforce, assets, supply chains, and regulatory frameworks of the fossil fuel industry, without needing to create new infrastructure.
Reducing demand for electricity is also important because it will reduce the “energy gap.” U.S. companies are making significant strides in this area. For example, Sealed is a new company that matches homeowners with a contractor, coordinates the work, and covers the upfront costs of the energy efficiency upgrade. The homeowner repays Sealed based on the energy results achieved. If Sealed doesn’t cut energy bills, they don’t get paid.
These are just a micro sample of the U.S. businesses jumping to address the “energy gap.” Time will tell which new technologies survive and provide the best bang for the buck. There is so much going on in the field of renewable energy technology, it is hard not to get excited about our future.