Geothermal is catching on. Last year, 188 new geothermal projects were started in the US. Together they could together produce as much as 7875 MW of energy. These projects could potentially provide electricity for 7.6 million people, or enough energy to completely replace California’s coal-fired plants. “California could achieve its 2020 goal for global warming emissions reductions just by keeping energy demand level and replacing its coal-fired generation with geothermal,” said Karl Garwell, The Geothermal Energy Association’s Executive Director.

Nevada is the leading state for geothermal development with 3000 MW under development, with Utah being the fastest growing state having quadrupled its capacity under development.

The Geothermal Energy Association estimates that up to 29,750 permanent jobs and 11,200 person-years of construction manufacturing employment will be created by geothermal energy development projects. The projects will represent more than US$ 35 billion of capital investment when complete.

http://www.geo-energy.org/