Workshop Looks To Take Advantage Of Area Energy

Energy is a hot topic these days and the Center for Advanced Energy Studies, or CASE, in Idaho Falls is looking to tap the abundance of heat below our feet.

The center is hosting its first ever geothermal energy workshop.

Leaders said Idaho is a hot spot for geothermal energy, but there are also a lot of technical barriers to getting the power to market.

The goal is to build a research team that will figure out how to best utilize the renewable energy and overcome the challenge of front-end costs.

“So some of the key challenges are to find better ways to find where resources are and cheaper resources to get to them,? CASE?s Robert Podgorney said. ?(That?s) so we don’t waste money to drill a well and there’s no water there to pull heat up. Then you’re in trouble.”

The workshop runs through Saturday and includes representatives from the INL as well as Idaho’s public research universities.