Drilling for Low-Carbon Energy Solutions: An Assessment of Two Alternatives

This paper employs a socio-technical systems perspective to compare two emerging energy technologies in the United States with potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from electrical power generation: enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) for electricity production and carbon capture and storage (CCS). CCS and EGS both involve subsurface geologic applications that, while promising, are unproven at scale and uncertain with respect to cost, feasibility and life-cycle environmental impacts. The technologies vary markedly, however, with respect to their social, technical and environmental composition and implications. CCS is an emerging technology that many argue must be developed if coal-fired electrical power production, currently the world's largest source of electricity and carbon emissions, is to be reconciled with climate change mitigation goals. The actor-network supporting coal and other fossil fuels is powerful and has garnered substantial public funding for CCS development. By contrast, EGS until recently has received little research or development support, yet its potential to contribute to a sustainability transition in electric power systems is arguably superior to CCS with respect to cost, complexity, scalability, environmental performance, investment risk and public acceptance. By comparing the socio-technical systems, including the processes and actor-network involved in these two emerging technologies in the United States context, this research highlights the importance of institutional and social influences of energy technology innovation, and, by extension, of global climate change mitigation strategies.