They didn't name it Steamboat for nothing. Folks heading to California on the immigrant trail saw the steam plumes in the south Truckee Meadows, heard the rumbling underground...and gave it its descriptive name. Long before then Native Americans had used the hot water to boil pine nuts in the hot vents and in the years following others sought relief from various ailments at a spa built on the spot.

In the 21st century it's producing power to light the homes of Reno. In fact, with the final phase of this geothermal energy plant coming on line today, it is producing 75 to 90 megawatts, literally enough, it is claimed, to meet the residential needs of the entire city.

It's taken modern technology to tap this resource and to put it to use at a time when the city, state, and nation need new sources of clean energy. Ironically, that source is here to light those homes for the same reason many local homeowners sleep restlessly these days. We've been reminded we live in a seismically active area. Earthquake faults crisscross our area. One of them is directly under Steamboat.

"Where there are faults, the magma is very close to the surface," says Lucien Brunicki of Ormat Technologies. And it's that close-to-the-surface magma that drives Ormat's geothermal power complex at Steamboat. The latest expansion maxes out Steamboat's potential. But there are a number of other sites in northern Nevada where faulting brings the earth's heat, close to the surface where it can be harnessed.

"We have a tremendous capability in Nevada." says Michael Yakira of Sierra Pacific Resources. "In per capita terms we have the greatest potential to use geothermal energy."

Call it the upside to a landscape that occasionally refuses to rest and lately has been testing our nerves.