These in-their-own-words pieces are told to Patricia Lane and co-edited with input from the interviewee for the purpose of brevity.
John Redfern has no plans to retire any time soon. He is busy bringing energy independence to the world. I caught up with this Calgarian, who founded and runs Eavor Geothermal, in Marrakech, Morocco, where he was attending a meeting with his investors.
Tell us about Eavor.
We use next-generation geothermal technology to create clean, reliable, affordable energy that can be scaled globally. We do not contaminate aquifers, use fracking, use excessive amounts of water, pollute water or increase earthquake risk. Our land footprint is insignificant and power production is entirely reliable, which are advantages over solar and wind. We use no pumps, so energy generation is highly efficient. We can work well where there is water scarcity without depriving the people in the area of the water they need for life.
We drill a well far below the earth’s surface and then, send out lateral wells from it to form a hermetically-sealed, closed-loop radiator. Hot water rises to ground level where we generate other forms of energy like electricity........