Episode Summary
Executive Summary: Carlos Arake, CEO of Quaze Energy, explains how deep geothermal could become a major clean-energy source by drilling far hotter, deeper rock with millimeter-wave microwave technology instead of conventional drill bits. He argues that only fission, fusion, and deep geothermal can scale enough to meet future energy demand while minimizing land use, and that Quaze aims to sell steam directly to industrial and power customers.
Main Topics: Carlos Arake's path from Colombia to geothermal entrepreneurship (Priority: 5/5): Carlos describes growing up in violent 1990s Medellín, studying mechanical engineering at MIT, spending 15 years at Schlumberger, then moving into venture capital at MIT's Engine before co-founding Quaze with Paul Woskow's geothermal drilling research. Geothermal basics and current market structure (Priority: 5/5): The conversation explains hydrothermal geothermal, enhanced geothermal systems (EGS), and the need to inject water, extract heat, and use steam or hot water for electricity or industrial heat. Carlos clarifies the difference between naturally occurring wells and engineered subsurface systems. Quaze's millimeter-wave deep drilling approach (Priority: 5/5): Quaze's core innovation is using microwave energy piped through a metal tube to vaporize rock deep underground, while blowing out the resulting ash, enabling deeper and hotter wells with less complex downhole hardware than conventional drilling. Economics, land use, and why deep geothermal matters (Priority: 5/5): Carlos argues geothermal has been held back because it is more expensive than oil and gas while yielding less energy, but deep geothermal could change the equation by co-locating heat generation with industrial demand and using far less land than wind or solar. Business model and customer strategy (Priority: 4/5): Quaze does not see itself as a drilling company but as an energy company that will sell steam to power plants and industrial heat users, with electricity generation as a secondary option when needed to create a market for the steam. Technical, environmental, and regulatory challenges (Priority: 4/5): The discussion covers field validation, well integrity, ash handling, aquifer protection, permitting delays, and the need to prove reliability as the company moves from lab-scale tests to field-deployable systems. Future energy system and workforce transition (Priority: 5/5): Carlos frames deep geothermal as one of three scalable future energy pillars, alongside fission and fusion, and argues existing oil-and-gas drilling talent and infrastructure give geothermal a major advantage over newer energy technologies.
Key Arguments: Deep geothermal can provide abundant, clean energy at scale because Earth contains immense thermal energy and deep wells can tap much hotter rock than conventional geothermal. Wind and solar are useful today, but their low power density and land/material requirements make them insufficient to satisfy long-term global energy demand on their own. Quaze's millimeter-wave system is novel because it keeps complexity out of the hole, using a surface-generated electromagnetic beam through pipe to drill deeper and hotter rock. The core business is selling steam, not bits or drilling services, because the value lies in reliable clean energy delivered directly to industrial customers and power plants. Repowering existing steam-based infrastructure could accelerate adoption, since many fossil power plants and industrial sites already have the equipment to use steam. The company sees the main technical risk as scaling a lab-proven concept into robust field equipment capable of operating reliably at high temperature and depth. Existing oil-and-gas expertise, supply chains, and workforce are the strongest bridge into deep geothermal deployment, unlike fusion which lacks comparable operational infrastructure. Regulation matters, but economics and physics are the real bottlenecks; once deep geothermal becomes economical, permitting will follow more closely behind deployment. Deep geothermal may allow clean energy to be sited anywhere, reducing dependence on special geologic locations and making the resource globally accessible. Carlos believes the energy transition requires far more supply than wind, solar, and batteries can realistically provide, making deep geothermal one of the few viable large-scale options.
Data Points: Years Carlos spent at Schlumberger: 15 years - His oil-and-gas technology career from 2002 to 2017 Carlos's time at MIT: 5 years - Undergraduate and master's studies in mechanical engineering, starting in 1997 Quaze incorporation date: July 2018 - The company was incorporated a week after Carlos left the Engine First funding from Vinod Khosla: $1 million - Initial capital offered to start Quaze Series A raised: north of $50 million - Recent financing to move from lab work into field deployment World record deep drill depth: 12 kilometers - Carlos cited this as taking 20 years to achieve Typical current geothermal depth: 1 to 2 kilometers - Standard geothermal wells are usually much shallower than Quaze's long-term target Typical hydrothermal output: 1-3 megawatts - Power from poking into a geyser-like geothermal source Quaze target thermal output per triplet: 200 megawatts of thermal energy - Projected output from one of their deep geothermal triplets Heat grade threshold mentioned: 500 degrees Celsius and below - Carlos said many industrial processes can use geothermal directly at or below this level Current global power demand: 20 terawatts - Carlos used this as the scale of civilization's energy needs Future primary energy need by 2050: 300,000 terawatt hours - Carlos referenced this as the world's likely total energy requirement Renewables deployed over 30 years: 1.5 terawatts - Wind and solar combined deployment cited by Carlos Oil and gas annual delta: about 1 terawatt - Estimated capacity the oil industry adds or replaces each year to keep up with demand Habitable land area: 150 million square kilometers - Used to compare global land-use constraints Human-built space share of habitable land: 1% - Carlos said only about 1% of habitable land is currently built out Fossil-fuel land power density: about 1,000 watts per square meter - Benchmark used to compare land use versus renewables Solar land power density: 10-100x lower than fossil fuels - Carlos argued solar requires substantially more land per unit energy Wind land power density: 1,000x lower than fossil fuels - Carlos used this to argue wind is land-intensive at scale Iceland geothermal share of power: 30% - Example of hydrothermal geothermal penetration Iceland geothermal share of heating: 70% - Example of geothermal's heating role California Geysers geothermal capacity: 3 gigawatts - Carlos described this as the world's largest geothermal resource of its kind Kenya electricity from geothermal: 44% - Illustration of hydrothermal geothermal's role in a country with favorable geology Temperature range for deep geothermal drilling: 400-600 degrees Celsius - Carlos called drilling into this temperature range unprecedented Geothermal drilling energy requirement: around 1 megawatt - Approximate power needed to run drilling operations Project timeline for field systems: 2023-2024 - The conversation refers to building field-deployable systems and early pilots in that period Permitting setback: November permit delay in Oregon - BLM did not issue a permit in time for a planned geophysical prospecting effort
Pivotal Quotes: "There are only three forms of energy that have the potential to offer abundant, clean energy to humanity at scale... fission, fusion, and deep geothermal." — Carlos Arake: Carlos's central thesis on which energy sources can meet future global demand "We're going to sell them the steam so they don't have to buy the coal." — Carlos Arake: Quaze's business model as a steam supplier to power plants and industrial users "Nothing has been able to do that until today in human history." — Carlos Arake: His argument that geothermal can colocate energy generation with load anywhere in the world
Implications: If Quaze succeeds, deep geothermal could become a globally deployable, land-efficient clean power source for industry and electricity, leveraging oil-and-gas expertise while reducing reliance on fossil fuels and scarce land/materials. It could reshape both energy infrastructure and industrial decarbonization.