Think from KERA Geothermal energy is the next hot thing
Jan 6, 2026
Rivka Galchen, New Yorker staff writer who reported on geothermal technology, history, and policy. She traces geothermal from ancient baths to Iceland’s overhaul and explains how wells and district systems produce steady heat and power. She explores the financing hurdles, tech links to oil and fracking, and why geothermal could scale where politics and funding align.
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Iceland Showed Geothermal Scales From Heat To Power
- Geothermal ranges from shallow direct heating to deep steam-driven electricity generation.
- Iceland scaled shallow district heating in the 1970s after the oil shock and used public loans to overcome upfront costs.
Electric Geothermal Needs Deep Heat And Fluids
- Electricity from geothermal needs much hotter temperatures and underground fluids to spin turbines.
- Krafla in Iceland uses 1–2 km wells to supply steam to large Mitsubishi turbines for both heat and electricity.
Data Centers Pay For Geothermal Reliability
- Tech companies value geothermal for stable, always-on power and may pay a premium for reliability.
- Data centers can avoid grid constraints by locating near private geothermal sources to guarantee uptime.