Geothermal Power and Building Earth’s Methane ‘Smoke Detector’ | A Brief History of the Future

These people are geniuses. This is a game changer of massive proportion! Im so glad i tripped on this video!

PBS is our national treasure

Served at Naval Air Station (NAS) Keflavik in 1979-80. The entire NATO base was heated by the hot water heating loop from the local geothermal power plant. Wastewater from the power plant formed the Blue Lagoon.

For a fuller picture of the problem you should be comparing Iceland (or Greenland) with Hawaii. Because Hawaii has all the geothermal opportunities that both Iceland and Greenland have however whilst both Iceland and Greenland take advantage of those opportunities Hawaii just prefers to pollute the planet. Hawaii not only has all those geothermal opportunities but also plenty of solar, wind, wave, and hydroelectric potential but the problem is political will, the US just wants to keep polluting the planet.

Awesome video, had chance to witness Geothermal energy in Iceland few years ago

How very heartening, and simultaneously disappointing, to see an NGO invest and do work that NASA/NOAA has had the technology to do for decades, but that has gone underfunded because of climate deniers in Congress and some administrations.

When is the next main episode installment coming out?

How much renewal energy is generated in Iceland? Obviously Iceland has a low population density and the power generated is sufficient for them plus some to export.

if we can start trapping methane emissions, theres a strong chance we can get out of this. we could feel the positive effects in as little as 10 yrs.

The technology, innovation, and eventual infrastructure that is going to save us is only held back by the political will to fund it. Much of the science is there, and like a lot of things, economies of scale will bring costs down. So, of course we are going to wait too long to do anything of substance.

Please don't leave in human hands

She is cute❤

"There are huge non climate effects of carbon dioxide which are overwhelmingly favorable which are not taken into account. To me that's the main issue that the earth is actually growing greener. This has been actually measured from satellites the whole earth is growing greener as a result of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. So it's increasing agricultural yields, it's increasing the forests, it's increasing all kinds of growth in the biological world and that's more important and more certain than the effects on climate." ~Freeman Dyson, Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.

See, the real problem that coming is from overconsumption and even in your greenest modern country, you will still be part of the problem because you have a high standard of living compared to the rest. And seriously, did this guy miss the boat to Iceland 15 years ago when everyone else was doing stories on it and asking would this work for us? The answer is NOOOOO. Geothermal is extremely linked to location to achieve real efficiency and it does have a high cost to build. Iceland is the only place in the world this can work for with their low population and living over a volcanic hotspot. We could close off Yellowstone, pump every ounce of steam we could, and it still wouldn't even be enough to power California alone. It's not viable and once again PBS let's this guy take a vacation on the donors and public's money under the preface of "journalism". This was journalism...15 years ago.

This is a terribly bad idea! First...we already are facing water crises globally. Where are these billions of barrels of water, to fill the empty cavities, going to come from? We can't afford the loss of water...period. Second...this isn't part of the geology of our planet. These oil fields will not stay empty forever if left alone. The earth is constantly renewing itself and one of the ways is seeping long cooked organic material up towards the surface. Fill those cavities up with water...you cut off the Earth's natural process! Third...Salt water? It will degrade equipment fast and for inland locations...what do you think it would do to the soil and ground water? Bad idea. Likely it's a ploy by big oil. The remaining petroleum will float to the surface of the fill making it much cheaper to recover. Saudi Arabia has been doing this environmentally destructive act for decades...to maximize profits.

Sounds dumb.