USA, California:

Long Beach Geothermal Research Gets Support (CSULB News at the Beach)

Becker believes that geothermal research will take off in the next 10 years. “It will finally get the attention it deserves.

Matt Becker, a member of the faculty in geological sciences and the Conrey Endowed Chair of Hydrology at California State University Long Beach (CSULB) since 2008, has received more than $1 million in grant support over the last four years to fund research into geothermal energy that is as deeply rooted in the state as the resources themselves.

The Department of Energy (DOE) awarded Becker and his colleagues a $579,980 project in 2010 followed by another award of $505,839 this year.  “I think what the Department of Energy recognizes the relevance of our research,” said Becker.

It was his 10 years of research into fractured rock hydrology at the University at Buffalo that first led Becker into the study of geothermal energy.  “I've looked at how water flows through bedrock for 25 years,” he recalled. “But when I moved to California, all of a sudden, there was geothermal energy. It turns out both fields share the same problem: how does water flow through bedrock?”

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