More than $300 million in funding for research and development of geothermal energy has been announced by U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu. This now pushes Google.org into second place behind the government in domestic geothermal R & D funding.

The projects funded by this program address the need to further develop geothermal energy, including advanced mapping and drilling research and exploration of low temperature geothermal. Some of these funds will go towards ground source heat pump research and demonstration projects, which do not generate power directly, but which use the energy they do consume for heating and cooling in a much more efficient manner.

Yay! Dr. Steven Chu, President-elect Obama’s recent choice as the next Secretary of Energy, is one of the best choices Obama has made so far in his cabinet picks. Dr. Chu has an undergrad degrees in math and physics, a PhD in physics from Berkeley, he served as a professor and department chair of physics at Stanford, as well as the director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He also won the Nobel Prize in 1997.

Dr. Chu also helped start the Helios Project, a DOE-funded research effort to develop solar energy and biological-based fuels. The project endorses a far-reaching strategy which involves carbon sequestration, cellulosic fuel, geothermal energy, and improving efficiency, to name a few of the initiatives.

The best thing about Steven Chu is that he’s not a politician. He’s a scientist and an environmentalist, and the best choice Obama could have made for this extremely important position.