Bedrock Energy wants geothermal to make data centers cooler and offices more comfortable

Oil and gas are not the only sources of energy lurking beneath our feet. Dig deep enough and the Earth’s temperature remains stable enough that it can be a source of heating and cooling for homes, offices and data centers.

But in many regions today, geothermal wells are only about 500 feet deep, a limit dictated by the type of drilling equipment typically used.

“It’s pretty shallow, and if you only go that deep, you’d need two or three times as much space,” said Joselyn Lai, co-founder and CEO of Keystone energytold TechCrunch.

Bedrock digs deeper to minimize geothermal footprints.

“A cooler at 800 to 1,000 feet is at dominant ground, which is three times more efficient than the ground. And where heat prevails, it can be 1,000 to 1,200 feet or more, which is twice as efficient as the ground,” Lai said.

Because it doesn’t need that much land, Bedrock targeted commercial buildings land tends to fetch a premium. Last year, he completed his first two installations, one at an office building in Austin, Texas, and the other at a resort in Utah. For such facilities, Lai said the company expects to generate revenue on a project-by-project basis next year.

Bedrock has also begun exploring the application of geothermal cooling to data centers. Last fall, the startup partnered with Dominion Energy to study space.

One of the main problems is that data centers are one-way users of geothermal energy. Since servers generate heat 24/7, data centers will shed heat year-round. Unlike other users, such as office buildings, which tend to cool in summer and warm in winter, the annual energy budget is more balanced.

Still, it looks promising, Lai said. What’s underground can make a difference: for example, fast-flowing groundwater can cool things down faster. Drilling wells need to be spread out compared to other installations, which increases overall costs. But Bedrock data analysis developed with experience obtained from the oil and gas sectorsuggests that geothermal would be well-suited for data centers, especially when combined with solar farms that need large plots of land.

“Broadly speaking, geothermal cooling is about twice as efficient as water and air cooling, especially during the hottest times of the day when it’s very, very humid, which is the case in many states with data centers,” Lai said. he said.

Another advantage of geothermal is how sustainable it uses electricity. Because the ground’s temperature is relatively constant, heat pumps that transfer energy to or from a geothermal reservoir do not have to move up or down to compensate for changes in air temperature, as do air source heat pumps. For large electricity users such as office buildings and data centers, this can be a boon to the bottom line, as utilities typically charge heavy users more when demand spikes.

Lai said geothermal prospects remain promising enough that the company continues to expand operations and invest in research and development, focusing on automation to speed installations. To support this growth, Bedrock recently raised a $12 million Series A round from Titanium Ventures. Energy Impact Partners and Sustainable Future Ventures with participation from Cantos, Elemental Capital, First Star Ventures, Overture Ventures, Toba Capital and Wireframe Ventures.