Safe geothermal energy

May 5, 2017

Scientists are searching for safer drilling methods: geothermal energy can provide sustainable and clean energy right where we need it – however seismicity may be induced. Scientists at ETH Zurich investigate how to prevent these earthquakes.

Feasibility of geothermal power plants

March 12, 2017

In cooperation with the Geothermal Energy and Geofluids (GEG) group, ETH Zurich researchers, working at NAGRA’s Grimsel rock laboratory, have retreated deep inside the mountain. By fracturing solid rock, they are hoping to re-examine the feasibility of geothermal power plants based on petrothermal technology. (ETH Globe, 1/2017)

Click here to view our 90-second video that was just one component of the application.

GEG Group submits application to MacArthur Foundation’s 100-Million-$-and-Change Competition

October 3, 2016

Today, the GEG Group at ETH-Zürich and team members SwissGeoPower, TerraCOH, Herrenknecht, Basler&Hofmann, Sintef, and Farner as well as the LTR Group at ETH-Zürich submitted their application to the 100-Million-$-and-Change Competition. According to the MacArthur Foundation, this is “A competition for a $100 million grant to fund a single proposal that promises real and measurable progress in solving a critical problem of our time.” The following is the executive summary of our application:

A global PROBLEM is humanity’s suffering from climate change and nuclear risk. Our SOLUTION is to enable worldwide access to Earth’s internal heat at depths of 5-10 km, resulting in an inexhaustible resource of clean, renewable geothermal energy, available anywhere, anytime, for anyone. Thus, we propose to realize small-scale, distributed, geothermal electricity/heat power plants, providing ample, clean 24/7-electricity/heat with power generation costs lower than those for coal, oil, and natural gas. However, the current high costs of drilling 5-10 km deep, prevent economic use of this energy resource. Thus, the focus of our proposal is the development of a revolutionary, i.e., much-lower-cost, ultra-deep (10 km) drilling technology. The RESULT of our “100&Change”-Project is affordable, clean 24/7-electricity/heat worldwide, reducing global climate change and nuclear risk.

Inaugural lecture of Prof. Martin O. Saar

May 11, 2016
Title: Moving mountains… and other uses of geothermal energy

Announcement of inaugural lecture published on Website of department of Earth Sciences

A short video about ETH Zurich

2017
A short trailer with key facts about ETH Zurich in 120 seconds.