Utah

Fervo Energy develops next-generation enhanced geothermal technology to provide reliable, 24/7 energy. The startup graduated from Berkeley Lab’s science entrepreneur fellowship program, Cyclotron Road, in 2020. Now, the energy supplier operates three field sites across the country including in Cape Station, Utah, where it partners with Berkeley Lab geophysicists to obtain long-term data about microseismic activity under the high-temperature conditions used by geothermal energy production. The Cape Station site is expected to create more than 6,000 construction jobs and 160 full-time operations roles.

Geoscientists at Berkeley Lab are testing methods to create and sustain enhanced geothermal energy systems (EGS) at Utah FORGE, a field-scale lab led by the University of Utah. Berkeley Lab researchers are deploying advanced seismic and fiber-optic monitoring and data analytics, with modeling to track how fluids move in Earth’s subsurface to help optimize strategies needed for expanding EGS. With research such as this, the Utah FORGE site is paving the way for a replicable, commercial pathway to EGS at hundreds of megawatts.

Devastating wildfires have become increasingly routine in the American West. Consumer-priced air monitors have become popular in recent years for checking the level of wildfire smoke exposure. Berkeley Lab scientists compared four such monitors against a research-grade instrument as a reference, and found that these accessible monitors can provide actionable information to help Americans understand how to protect themselves and their families from wildfire smoke.