Energy's Future: What Is It and Who Profits?

Alright, so we're gonna drill into a freaking VOLCANO for "clean energy" now?

Newberry: A Recipe for Disaster?

Oregon's about to become the guinea pig for "superhot geothermal" energy, and honestly, the whole thing smells like a PR stunt wrapped in a greenwashed lie. Mazama Energy wants to tap into Newberry Volcano, which the U.S. Geological Survey calls "one of the largest and most hazardous active volcanoes in the United States." Hazardous! But yeah, let's drill into it. What could possibly go wrong?

Vinod Khosla, some VC dude backing this project, says geothermal has been "mostly inconsequential." Well, maybe that's because sticking a giant straw into the earth's fiery butthole ain't exactly the smartest idea. Now they wanna crank the temperature up to 750 degrees Fahrenheit? You know what else gets that hot? My freakin' laptop when I'm running three Chrome tabs.

They're bragging about "enhanced geothermal energy," which is just a fancy way of saying they're gonna frack the earth to make steam. Remind me again how fracking is good for the environment? Oh, right, it ain't. And don't even get me started on the earthquake risk. A Swiss experiment got shut down after triggering a 3.4 magnitude quake. The Newberry site already had five tremors in six months. But "scientists say earthquakes will always be a risk, but it can be managed with good monitoring and engineering." Sure, Jan.

Superman Water and Fried Drills

The CEO of Mazama, Sriram Vasantharajan, says the water turns into "Superman" when it gets superheated. Okay, dude, whatever you're smoking, I want some. Supercritical water? Sounds like something out of a bad sci-fi movie.

Here's the kicker: drilling into 750-degree rock is apparently a real pain in the ass. Standard drills "get fried," as Vasantharajan so eloquently puts it. So, their solution is to pump liquid carbon dioxide to cool the rigs. Liquid carbon dioxide? To save the planet? Can someone explain the logic here? I must be missing something.

And what happens when those wells start degrading from all that heat and pressure? They're gonna generate 15 megawatts of electricity next year, eventually ramping up to 200. Big freakin' deal. Oregon's average electric output is way higher than that.

Meanwhile, Kotek is patting herself on the back for another "broad climate executive order." She wants to "accelerate wind and solar energy" and "support emerging technologies." Translation: she's throwing money at anything that sounds vaguely green, hoping something sticks before the next election. Latest Kotek climate order aims to speed up Oregon’s clean energy transition. She's aiming for 8 gigawatts of energy storage by 2045. Good luck with that when the grid is already overloaded.

Then again, maybe I'm just being a cynical jerk. Maybe this superhot geothermal thing will actually work. Maybe drilling into a volcano won't turn Oregon into Pompeii 2.0. But let's be real, the odds ain't exactly in our favor.

Another Green Dream Gone Wrong?