WHEN WE CHANGE HOW WE GET ENERGY, WE CHANGE HISTORY

Human history, energy, and earth sciences are intricately interwoven. This appears to be inescapable. Wind and peat made Holland a global power in the 1500s and 1600s. Coal gave rise to the British Empire in the following centuries. And coal, oil, and nuclear power were fundamental to America’s superpower status in the 20th century. Fossil fuels still dominate world energy today, but huge energy transitions are underway and they will change the course of history. Indeed, since the dawn of humanity, society has been fueled by fire. Can human thriving continue if fire continues to fuel our society?

Cornell University’s Earth Source Heat project is part of the effort to make the university carbon neutral by 2035. Heating buildings with heat from the on-campus natural gas-fired combined heat and power plant is responsible for nearly half of the campus’s energy use. Heating buildings with heat from the under-campus natural geothermal heat is the aspiration. There is nothing particularly special about Ithaca’s subsurface geology. Thus, if the project determines that deep geothermal heat is practical for heating campus, the project can serve as a broadly applicable model.

If we change the way buildings are heated, we change history. The prospect of shifting energy consumption from primarily extracting and burning fuel to the direct harvesting of geothermal heat has stunning implications. If cold water is pumped down one of a pair of deep holes and hot water returns through the paired hole, and that pumping is powered by electricity from wind and solar, the process of heating is done without fuel.

We are hopeful that this will be a piece of a turning point in energy history akin to the shift from wood to fossil fuels, but without the extensive downsides of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels, of course, made modern society possible. Now we understand that they also endanger modern society. While all large-scale energy sources bring some environmental cost, some sources are far more damaging than others.

In providing education around new energy sources such as deep geothermal heat, it is important to contextualize that energy in the broad sweep of energy history.