Despite the proven efficacy of geothermal energy as a city-scale heating and cooling resource, the relative newness of most city-scale applications has resulted in limited widespread adoption.  Geothermal heating and cooling resources are ubiquitous and diverse, with technologies available both for harvesting ambient heat or for storing thermal energy.  These local low-carbon, baseload energy sources provide resilience, security, and local jobs.  As part of a U.S. Geological Survey hosted Powell Center project, a range of European and US partners (geological surveys, geoscience organizations, industry representatives and universities) seek an acceleration of understanding that could lead to adoption of geothermal technologies that offset shortcomings of other renewable technologies (e.g., episodic sources, and critical mineral demands).  Because better availability of geothermal energy will contribute to diversification of energy sources and improve global energy security, Powell Center team goals include the development of authoritative information suitable for city-managers and other decision-makers. 

 

Erick Burns is a Research Hydrologist and the Project Co-chief for the U.S. Geological Survey Geothermal Resources Investigations Project (GRIP).  He coordinates the research of ~30 scientists who are supported wholly, or in part, by the GRIP and a range of externally funded projects. He is the primary task-leader for: (1) development of updated new resource assessments for conventional hydrothermal and EGS electricity production in the western U.S., (2) development of local- and national-scale assessment tools for low-temperature and underground thermal energy storage (UTES) resources, and (3) joint-energy and water-resources studies in the northwest U.S. volcanic terranes. He leads multi-center/institution teams on machine learning for geothermal energy assessment, and on novel methods of characterizing and evaluating UTES resources (with the eventual goal of developing national maps of these resources).  He is a team-member of the USGS geologic energy storage project (as the thermal storage subject matter expert), and on projects developing temperature models for petroleum reservoirs. He has active collaborations in Europe and South America on these topics.

 

Website: https://www.usgs.gov/centers/gmeg/science/geothermal-resource-investigations-project 

 

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