The New York Times has consistently been one of the leading mainstream media sources for coverage of alternative energy and global warming issues. Today, they have an article on tapping deep (1-2 mile) granite bedrock for geothermal energy harvesting, a source that could provide 10% of our energy needs by 2050. This is the real deal: totally renewable, no emissions, the technology exists today and the source is available globally. It’s not rocket science, in fact it’s very much nineteenth century drilling knowledge that’s required: drill a really deep hole until you hit granite that is always 400 degrees F, pump water down there and use the superheated steam that results to generate power.
There are challenges but none of them are insurmountable or require technology not yet developed. This should be a serious initiative. If I ran an energy company I’d be getting into this now.

Local Twist
Rochester’s downtown sits on just such a granite layer. I’d imagine on of these geothermal plants could cleanly power the entire downtown area.