A prior boss of mine, one of the smartest guys I've ever worked for devised a geothermal extraction apparatus (theoretical) back when the Obama admin was flushi

A prior boss of mine, one of the smartest guys I've ever worked for devised a geothermal extraction apparatus (theoretical) back when the Obama admin was flushing DOE with cash for grants. He was attempting to tackle some of the common barriers to "domestic" geothermal. The issue being it's hard to drill deep enough to reach rock hot enough. His geothermal patent can be seen here [0] - it's a novel approach to vary the extent of power extracted from a geothermal well, while preventing the necessity to acquire both water rights AND mineral rights (commonly one of the biggest hurdles in "residential" geothermal deployments). The root of the patent is a novel means of "sealing" a geothermal well, providing bidirectional flow to and from the well. His background is pretty interesting - he was a construction engineer by trade, but initially made his first fortune by speculating and purchasing land use options on corn-fields in Iowa. Turned out his guess was right, and DOE purchased some of his land to grow corn for ethanol production. [0] - https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/20/12/43/9c15aafd9ade67/WO2020257917A1.pdf https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/20/12/43/9c15aaf...