Thu, 9 Feb 2023 12:27:36 +1100
Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/kenya-geothermal-energy-world-leader/
"Geophysicist Nicholas Mariita remembers when Kenya’s geothermal sector wasn’t
the high-tech powerhouse it is today. In the early 1980s, he regularly joined
teams of scientists on expeditions into the country’s Great Rift Valley to
survey for potential sites where the Earth could be tapped for a prime
subterranean energy source. They weren’t looking for oil or coal — they were
looking for heat, the key resource in geothermal power.
The Great Rift Valley was still wild then, so dodging snakes and buffalo was
part of the job. “One in a while, we’d be chased by a buffalo and have to climb
into a tree, and if it was a clever one, it’d flick urine at you with its
tail,” Mariita recalls. “Those were the kind of funny things we went through.”
Their risk has yielded results. In 2020 and 2021, some 48 percent of all
electricity generated in Kenya came from geothermal — the highest share of any
country. And as the world seeks to increase both the quantity and cleanliness
of its electricity, it’s a cheap, bountiful and low-carbon option Kenya plans
to increasingly rely on."
Via Danny ter Haar.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
"Geophysicist Nicholas Mariita remembers when Kenya’s geothermal sector wasn’t
the high-tech powerhouse it is today. In the early 1980s, he regularly joined
teams of scientists on expeditions into the country’s Great Rift Valley to
survey for potential sites where the Earth could be tapped for a prime
subterranean energy source. They weren’t looking for oil or coal — they were
looking for heat, the key resource in geothermal power.
The Great Rift Valley was still wild then, so dodging snakes and buffalo was
part of the job. “One in a while, we’d be chased by a buffalo and have to climb
into a tree, and if it was a clever one, it’d flick urine at you with its
tail,” Mariita recalls. “Those were the kind of funny things we went through.”
Their risk has yielded results. In 2020 and 2021, some 48 percent of all
electricity generated in Kenya came from geothermal — the highest share of any
country. And as the world seeks to increase both the quantity and cleanliness
of its electricity, it’s a cheap, bountiful and low-carbon option Kenya plans
to increasingly rely on."
Via Danny ter Haar.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
