Geothermal industry goes full steam ahead

[jpak]

http://www.insidebayarea.com/business/ci_7110839

SONOMA COUNTY - At the end of a country road twisting 89 miles north of San Francisco, black mud bubbles up from the earth and the wind carries the stench of sulfur.

Twenty-two geothermal power plants rise from the green hillside plants that generate more than enough renewable energy to light every house in San Jose.

Welcome to the Geysers, the largest single producing geothermal energy field in the world. Although the 47-year-old field is the country's largest geothermal producer, supplying almost 3 percent of California's electricity, it is virtually unknown.

As oil prices rise and legislation mandates that California reduce its carbon emissions, interest in clean energy has soared higher than Altamont's wind turbines and burned hotter than the Mojave's solar thermal plant.

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