untapped reserves

The discussions of energy policy in Iceland, especially in regard to geothermal energy, were surprising to me. I had thought when I first moved to Iceland that there was a huge amount of untapped geothermal energy pockets, but now it seems most of the more productive vents have already been tapped, and may start to become less productive over time. I suppose in Iceland, hydroelectric is underutilized, but then one would hate to see more waterfalls dammed up for that purpose.

In the US, I have heard conflicting reports about the amount of oil and natural gas deposits, and have heard some (republican) friends of mine say that there is actually a lot of untapped oil in the United States. I do not know if this is true, but I think that in some cases, a decision has been made to buy oil from abroad instead of paying for all the infrastructure to extract oil domestically simply because it is cheaper for the oil companies that way. So I do lean towards the idea that there is a lot of untapped natural resources in the US.

Here in California, I am absolutely sure that solar energy is vastly underutilized. There is something comforting in that, in knowing that much more is available than is being used.

Comments

Jon said…
With all the geological faults in California it might be possible to drill some useful geothermal bores. I would ask the Icelanders for advice.

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