In a sagebrush valley full of wind turbines and solar panels in western Utah, Tim Latimer gazed up at a very different device he believes could be just as powerful for fighting climate change ¡ª maybe even more.

It was a drilling rig, of all things, transplanted from the oil fields of North Dakota. But the softly whirring rig wasn¡¯t searching for fossil fuels. It was drilling for heat.

Latimer¡¯s company, Fervo Energy, is part of an ambitious effort to unlock vast amounts of geothermal energy from Earth¡¯s hot interior, a source of renewable power that could help displace fossil fuels that are dangerously warming the planet.