Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, has invested $10.25m (£5.2m) in a new energy technology called Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS).

Google’s ‘Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal’ initiative focuses on various technologies and has set a goal to create one gigawatt of renewable energy capacity, enough to power city the size of San Francisco in years, rather than decades.

Google announced funding for technological development by Altarock Energy and Potter Drilling, to reduce costs and improve performance, and for Southern Methodist University to update geothermal mapping of North America.

Traditional geothermal technology relies on finding naturally occurring pockets of steam and hot water, the EGS process replicates these conditions by fracturing hot rock and circulating water through the system. According to a report into EGS by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 2% of the heat that is between 3 and 10 km below continental US could supply more than 2,500 times the country’s annual energy use.

“It has the potential to deliver vast quantities of power 24/7 and be captured nearly everywhere on the planet. And it would be a perfect complement to intermittent sources like solar and wind”, said Dan Reicher, director of climate and energy initiatives for Google.org.

Google has taken steps towards energy efficiency in the past, in its data centres, and its solar panel installation at its Mountain View, California headquarters.