If you believe in the power of innovation, so-called problems can actually become future business opportunities.
This is the story of Crusoe Energy Systems, a pioneering company that is making waves in technology by harnessing waste from the oil and gas industry. And none of that would have happened without Wyoming's willingness to explore bold new ideas and foster innovation.
Crusoe Energy Systems builds portable data centers that can be installed at remote oil and gas well sites. Data centers use field gas that is vented or combusted (in other words, wasted) as a power source.
This helps solve big problems in the technology field. More and more people are storing data and running computer programs through the “cloud” – a remote server that connects to their laptop or mobile phone via the Internet. However, the continuous expansion of cloud computing requires more and more data centers, and these data centers are extremely energy-intensive.
The team at Crusoe Energy Systems realized that the cheapest energy is never delivered to the grid. Instead, they are “stranded” in remote locations where energy is frequently produced, whether it's oil and gas wells in rural America or hydroelectric dams in Iceland.
Harnessing this pent-up energy and using it to power data centers could provide a cost-effective way to increase cloud computing capacity for the technology sector. Not only that, but eliminating wasted energy is also good for the environment.
According to Cully Cavness, co-founder of Crusoe Energy Systems, the idea of building portable data centers, moving them to different locations in the oilfield, and connecting them remotely to other cloud computing facilities is a huge challenge to sell. It wasn't the easiest idea.
Cavness said in a recent interview that the first place he had the company test the concept was in Wyoming in 2018. 60 minutes.
“It's not necessarily an idea that everyone automatically adopts right away before it's ever been done,” Cavness said. “Wyoming was like that. They invited us to do it here for the first time. We did it on a small scale. We proved it works. And it It helped us attract funding and other projects, which helped us grow to the size we are today.”
Cavness said the company now has about 200 portable data centers that utilize 20 million cubic feet of gas per day that would otherwise be wasted. This is the equivalent of removing the carbon dioxide emitted by hundreds of thousands of cars from the atmosphere each year.
More recently, Crusoe Energy Systems has taken the lessons learned from limiting energy waste in the oil and natural gas industry and applied them to limiting energy waste in the renewable energy sector. Please try to imagine. A technology startup with roots in the oil and gas industry is teaching wind and solar developers how to reduce waste and help the planet.
It's no wonder Wyoming-based companies are thinking this way and seizing opportunities like this. Despite the stereotype that Wyoming is a fossil fuel state, Wyoming is definitely an “all of the above” energy state.
What this means is that there are no artificial boundaries between different energy sources. Everyone has their own place and everyone can work together.
By definition, an all-of-the-above attitude embraces new sources and new technologies, whether it's state-of-the-art nuclear reactors or carbon capture and sequestration.
This approach to energy and innovation is exemplified by Gov. Mark Gordon (R-Wyo.), who has criticized left-wing environmental groups and others for not treating different energy sources as “good” or “bad.” He has also been criticized by some party members. ”
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“My message to audiences in Wyoming and beyond is that Wyoming provides all types of energy and that our future, the future of America and the world, depends on all types of energy. “We have done so, and we will continue to do so,” Gordon wrote in his paper. Recent columns.
Wyoming has a proud history of openness to all energy sources. If we want to ensure a prosperous future for the Cowboy State, staying open is the right approach.
John Karakoulakis is director of Western Way, a nonprofit organization focused on free market solutions to conservation problems in the western United States.
