Using AI to Unlock Geothermal Energy at Scale: Zanskar

Using AI to Unlock Geothermal Energy at Scale: Zanskar

From Climate Rising by Harvard Business School Business & Environment Initiative

May 27, 2026 · 50 min

About this episode

Joel Edwards discusses how Zanskar is using AI and data science to improve geothermal energy exploration.

Geothermal energy has long been seen as a promising, but challenging, clean energy resource. Unlike wind or solar, geothermal requires finding heat hidden deep underground, often with little surface indication of where to look. Joel Edwards, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Zanskar, joins Climate Rising to explain how advances in geoscience, data science, and machine learning are transforming geothermal exploration. By combining publicly available geologic data with modern modeling techniques, Zanskar is working to reduce the risk and cost of finding new geothermal resources. The conversation explores how geothermal systems work, why exploration has historically been challenging, and how Zanskar’s approach is enabling “blind discoveries”—finding viable geothermal resources that lack surface expressions such as hot springs or geysers. Joel also discusses the economics of geothermal, the role of data centers as a potential catalyst for growth, and what it will take to scale the industry.

People in this episode

Host: Harvard Business School Business & Environment Initiative

Guest: Joel Edwards

Topics covered

  • geothermal energy
  • AI in energy
  • data science
  • geoscience
  • clean energy
  • machine learning

Keywords

  • geothermal energy
  • AI
  • data science
  • clean energy
  • exploration
  • machine learning
  • geoscience

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Zanskar, Harvard Business School Business & Environment Initiative

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