Oil and gas aren't the only energy sources lurking beneath our feet. Digging deep enough, houses, Earth's temperature remains consistent enough to be a source of heating and cooling for offices and data centers.
But in many regions, today's geothermal wells are around 500 feet below the surface, a limitation of the type of drilling equipment that is routinely used.
“It's pretty shallow, and to get to that depth would require two or three times the amount of space,” said Joselyn Lai, co-founder and CEO. Bedrock energytold TechCrunch.
Bedrock is drilled deeper to reduce the loss of geothermal energy.
“Three times more efficient at 800 to 1,000 feet of cooling. And 1,000 to 1,200 feet or more in hot spots is good, and it takes up twice as much space,” Lai said.
Because Bedrock does not require much soil. Commercial buildings were targeted. Land is often at a premium. Its first two installations last year; One is Texas. An office building in Austin and a resort in Utah were completed. Lai said the company expects to be profitable on a project basis next year for such installations.
Bedrock has begun exploring the use of geothermal cooling in data centers. Last fall, the startup partnered with Dominion Energy to study the space.
One of the main challenges is that data centers are one-way users of geothermal energy. Because servers generate heat 24/7; Data centers will dump heat into the ground year-round. In contrast to other users, such as office buildings, which tend to heat in summer and cool in winter, the annual energy budget is more balanced.
Still, Lai says the potential is good. What's underground can make a difference: for example, groundwater can cool things that flow faster. It is necessary to improve the overall cost compared to other installations of boreholes. But Bedrock's data analysis was developed with experience. Collected from the oil and gas sector.Geothermal is suggested to be suitable for data centers, especially when paired with solar farms that require large amounts of land.
“Generally speaking, geothermal cooling is about twice as efficient as water and air cooling, especially during the hottest times of the day when it's very humid in many states with data centers.” Lai said.
Another benefit of geothermal is how consistent electricity is used. Because the Earth's temperature is relatively stable, Heat pumps that transfer energy to a geothermal reservoir don't need to pump uphill or downhill to compensate for changes in air temperature. For large consumers of electricity, such as office buildings and data centers; Utilities usually charge larger users more when their needs increase, which can benefit the bottom line.
The geothermal outlook is still promising enough for the company to continue investing in business expansion and research and development, Lai said. To support that growth, Bedrock recently raised a $12 million Series A round led by Titanium Ventures. Cantos Elemental Capital First Star Ventures; Overture Ventures; Energy Impact Partners and Sustainable Future Ventures with participation from Toba Capital and Wireframe Ventures.