Geothermal Explosion Highlights a Downside of a Leading Alt-Energy Source

A leading geothermal company has been rocked by an explosion from a well drilled deep into the earth, which was part of a system that converts the heat from buried rocks into clean, green energy. On Friday evening at the South Australian test site, a burst of pressurized water and steam blew through the well "cellar," the 22-foot deep concrete structure set in the ground through which the deeper well is drilled. In geothermal energy systems, wells are drilled two or three miles deep and water is circulated past the hot rocks at that depth to collect heat; the resulting steam is then used to run turbines in a power plant.