US Air Force Leads Defense Dept. Into A Geothermal Energy Future | Geothermal energy is front and center in the Defense Department’s efforts to improve energy security and resiliency at military facilities.

From the article: The US Air Force was an early adopter and market-mover for the budding domestic solar industry back in the early 2000s, leading to solar’s explosive growth curve in the ensuing years. Now the Air Force is poised to do the same for geothermal energy, sparking new life into an industry that has been all but comatose for decades.

There are no geothermal power plants east of the Rocky Mountains today, and for good reason. The US geothermal industry has long relied on naturally occurring circumstances where the combination of rock, water, and heat is optimal for electricity production, and where eager off-takers await. Until now, that has limited the scope of geothermal electricity production to a few hotspots in California, Oregon, and other points west.

Meanwhile, the US Department of Energy has spent years — and many taxpayer dollars — supporting geothermal innovations that deploy new drilling technologies, borrowed from the oil and gas industry. These new geothermal systems can pick up and go where the heat and the offtakers are located, deploying human-made underground reservoirs.

Now some of those systems are ready for market. In fact, they are so ready that President Trump’s fossil-friendly “American Energy Dominance” plan includes geothermal energy in its shortlist of preferred energy resources (for the record, biofuel and hydropower also made the cut).

It’s also a source of energy that is UNDERGROUND and resistant to newer threats like drones. But make no mistake – it’s also a desirable source of energy in a post nuclear world.

Add to this the announcement the U.S. military is now fully incorporating artificial intelligence into its strategic and tactical planning…

Oh dear. Turn that midnight clock to 1 second before midnight