While oil and gas executives take taxpayer bailouts and lay off workers, the geothermal sector is emerging as an opportunity for oil and gas workers to apply their skills with minimal retraining, Inside Climate News reports. Geothermal energy companies are using drilling technology and methods developed by the oil and gas industry to more effectively harness heat from deep underground, and are looking to grow. While some aspects of the solar and wind sectors lend themselves to oil and gas workers seeking (or forced) to move out of a declining sector responsible for enormous climate pollution, Jody Robins, a former oil drilling engineer who now works as a geothermal drilling engineer for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, said oil and gas workers “naturally … gravitate towards geothermal” because it’s a better fit for their skills. (InsideClimate News)
