The first successful attempt to tap underground heat was made in
- (a)Boise, Idaho (USA)
- (b)Tel Aviv, Israel
- (c)Tokyo, Japan
- (d)Canberra, Australia
Correct — A, Boise, Idaho (USA). Boise is widely credited with the first successful attempt to tap underground (geothermal) heat, piping hot water from underground aquifers to heat homes and buildings — making it home to one of the earliest geothermal district-heating systems in the world.
- (b)Tel Aviv, Israel — Israel is better known for pioneering solar energy use (mandatory rooftop solar water heaters), not for the first attempt to tap underground/geothermal heat.
- (c)Tokyo, Japan — Japan sits on the geothermally active Pacific Ring of Fire and uses geothermal energy extensively today, but Boise, not Tokyo, is credited with the first successful attempt to tap underground heat.
- (d)Canberra, Australia — Canberra has no major geothermal resource and is not associated with early geothermal-heating history.
Geothermal energy taps heat stored underground — usually via hot water or steam drawn from underground aquifers — for direct heating or electricity generation. District heating (piping hot water to warm multiple buildings from a shared source) was one of the earliest practical uses of this heat, and Boise, Idaho is credited with hosting the first successful such attempt, later growing into one of the oldest continuously operating geothermal district-heating systems in the world.
This kind of question tests a 'first in the world' fact tied to a specific energy technology; the distractor cities are ones genuinely associated with that broad technology today (solar in Israel, a geothermally active Japan) rather than with being historically 'first' at it.
- Boise, Idaho (USA) is credited with the first successful attempt to tap underground (geothermal) heat
- The heat was used for direct district heating — piping hot underground water to buildings
- Geothermal energy is heat drawn from underground water/steam reservoirs
- Israel is instead notable for pioneering mandatory solar water heating, not geothermal energy
- Assuming a country famous for a related renewable energy today (e.g., Israel–solar, Japan–geothermal potential) must also be the historical 'first'
- Confusing the first geothermal power plant for electricity (built later, in Italy) with Boise's earlier direct-heating use
A direct 'first successful attempt/first in the world' factual question on renewable or non-conventional energy sources, often paired with similar firsts for solar, wind or tidal energy.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The world's first geothermal power plant built to generate electricity was set up in which country?
- (a)USA
- (b)Italy
- (c)Iceland
- (d)New Zealand
Answer(b) Italy — at Larderello, distinct from Boise's earlier direct-heating use of geothermal water.
- practice — not a real PYQ
In India, geothermal energy potential is notably associated with which of the following sites?
- (a)Puga valley, Ladakh
- (b)Jaisalmer, Rajasthan
- (c)Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu
- (d)Rann of Kutch, Gujarat
Answer(a) Puga valley, Ladakh — one of India's most promising geothermal fields.