Making Tech Headlines · Page 5
Underwater Volcano Asked to Join the Utility Sector
· New York time
A startup has tested an underwater volcano as an energy source, presenting the effort as a proof point for undersea geothermal power. The broader question is whether that resource could help Pacific Rim countries reduce reliance on imported oil. That gives the experiment significance beyond a striking location. Energy supply, import dependence and new generation technologies have consequences across international markets. But a test is an early step, not a completed power system with a customer-service number and an outage map. The engineering appeal is easy to understand: heat already exists beneath the sea. The business challenge is everything contained in the phrase 'make that useful.' A resource can be abundant while the equipment needed to reach and use it remains demanding. For energy analysis, the distinction between demonstrating a concept and delivering dependable electricity is the main event. One establishes possibility; the other must satisfy a much longer list of practical requirements. The comic appeal is that even a volcano can now be approached as an underused asset. After spending geological time being a volcano, it may find itself in a presentation about productivity. Nature has supplied the heat. The rest is a formidable plumbing assignment.
Read this story in the full newspaper →Satire. Not factual reporting. Read the original reporting from the linked publishers.