Geothermal energy is gaining momentum, but its roots in America run deep. Before the Wright Brothers took flight or the first Ford Model-T rolled off the assembly line, residents of Boise, Idaho, were already heating their homes with geothermal energy. Today, Boise’s system heats over 100 buildings and six million square feet in the downtown core and even pulls off some supercool feats—like melting snow off sidewalks in the winter. In Boise, you can wash your clothes at a geothermal-heated laundromat, swim in a geothermal-heated pool at the YMCA, and buy flowers grown in a geothermal-heated greenhouse. Tina Riley, after two decades as a geologist for ExxonMobil, now uses her expertise to manage Boise’s geothermal system—the largest of its kind in the U.S.
