Journey to the heat of the earth: Prelude to a sociology of geothermal energy systems

Sociological studies on renewable energy have pivotally focused on wind, solar, and hydropower. Geothermal power, the Earth’s internal heat lurking in the deep, has hardly received any sociological attention. This may have to do with the fact that the tapping of geothermal energy has historically been limited to areas near tectonic plate boundaries. Recent technological developments, however, have expanded the potential of geothermal energy ranging from novel applications in home heating to providing a significant share of the energy mix in some countries, especially when the heat is tapped from several kilometers below the earth’s surface. Since this type of energy can be retrieved at an industrial scale or a household level, there are important new sociological questions in terms of the design of the technology and how it is related to existing sociotechnical systems. This also points to the political valences of local energy production versus corporate production. Given that many of the recently launched geothermal power plants and the drilling technologies involved inhibit many scientific unknowns, sociological questions on dealing with these issues (including even earthquakes) appear to be of upmost importance. The presentation thus has two overall exploratory goals: Firstly, to outline possibilities and challenges for sociological research on geothermal energy in relation to other types of alternative energy sources, and, secondly, to deliver suggestions on how to theoretically frame the tapping of these energy reservoirs by building on current insights from the sociology of ignorance. The presentation will be accompanied by some revealing but also ironic comparisons of how 21st century approaches in geothermal energy research and engineering veer towards typologically similar strategies as that used by the researchers in Jules Verne’s 19th century science fiction novel A Journey to the Center of the Earth.