You know you’re doing something right when the world’s largest oil producers are investing in your renewable energy project.
Earlier this week, geothermal startup Eavor announced a $40m funding round led by Chevron and BP.
The company is on a quest to power 10m homes by 2030 with its unique Eavor-Loop IP.
Instead of using pumps and wells to produce super hot liquid underground, Eavor uses a self-contained loop that circulates fluid through natural heating and cooling, kinda like how a car radiator cools an engine.
One Eavor-Loop system can produce enough heat for 16k homes, and the new investment will help lower the price.
In the first half of 2020, global geothermal investments totaled $675m, 6x more than the 2019 total.
In Iceland, 9 in 10 homes are heated with geothermal energy, and the country is helping China develop more geothermal heating systems than anywhere else.
The US already produces 3.7 gigawatts of geothermal electricity, enough to power 1m homes. By 2050, America could see its geothermal output increase 26x, providing 8.5% of the country’s electricity and heating for 28m households.
The most gangster player in the geothermal game: Boise, Idaho. Since 1983, the city’s heated its downtown with America’s largest geothermal heating system at a pump cost of just $1k a month.