--- description: Find out why FervoFlex is one of the best inventions of 2024 title: FervoFlex: the 200 Best Inventions of 2024 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte9e5918391a84887/698a8a24c9e941072c122977/fervo-energy-fervoflex-best-inventions.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Oct 30, 2024 # Geothermal Energy Advances by [Micheline Maynard](/author/micheline-maynard/) ## Micheline Maynard Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  default default Fervo Energy’s FervoFlex system involves drilling horizontally into hot rock beneath the earth's surface and pumping in water to create hot water and steam; the resulting geothermal energy can be stored and released strategically for future customer use. Fiber optic cables in each of its wells give the company real-time information on flow, temperature, and performance. Such analytics have helped Fervo reduce its drilling time by 70% and cut the price per well from $9.4 million to $4.8 million. A pilot project with Google went online in 2023, providing the energy for a data center in Nevada. A bigger project, in Utah, is set to go online in 2026 and ultimately provide energy for 400,000 homes. Jack Norbeck, Fervo's co-founder and chief technology officer, predicts that by 2050, geothermal energy "becomes the backbone of the decarbonized energy system." These are independent reviews of the products mentioned, but TIME receives a commission when purchases are made through affiliate links at no additional cost to the purchaser. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2024/7094813/fervo-energy-fervoflex/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2024/7094813/fervo-energy-fervoflex/"},"headline":"FervoFlex: the 200 Best Inventions of 2024","datePublished":"2024-10-30T11:19:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T11:54:32.228Z","description":"Find out why FervoFlex is one of the best inventions of 2024","url":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2024/7094813/fervo-energy-fervoflex/","keywords":["Tech","E-Commerce","list","franchise","Magazine","best inventions"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte9e5918391a84887/698a8a24c9e941072c122977/fervo-energy-fervoflex-best-inventions.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Micheline Maynard","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/micheline-maynard/"}],"creator":"Micheline Maynard","articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte9e5918391a84887/698a8a24c9e941072c122977/fervo-energy-fervoflex-best-inventions.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2024/7094813/fervo-energy-fervoflex/","name":"FervoFlex: the 200 Best Inventions of 2024"}}]}] ```