NEIMME & Geological Society of London Lecture:
Can Abandoned Mines Heat our Future?
Charlotte Adams, Durham University
Tuesday 25 September 2018, 18:00-19:00 | Free

The UK faces an energy crisis, around half of the energy it consumes is used for heat and most of this is produced using natural gas. The UK has been a net importer of gas for over a decade, and we have limited gas storage meaning that at times of high demand we risk a supply shortage. There exists an opportunity to develop our deep mining heritage to once again provide a source of energy. Over the past century, 15 billion tons of coal were extracted from UK coalfields but output has reduced to virtually zero today. Our declining coal industry means that as deep mines were abandoned, water pumps were turned off and the worked areas flooded with water which now lies at temperatures of around 12 to 20°C.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/myevent?eid=48337310196 . for more information. Please note that places will be allocated on a first come first served basis for this event.

A fair bit of 'traditional' energy will be required to raise mine water temperatures to 'hot bath' level.

You wouldn't normally heat up the mine water.

Instead you would pass the mine water through a heat pump / heat exchanger to generate heat. Heat is taken from the mine water, which is either discharged back to the mine workings or to a surface watercourse. You can also put the heat pump down a shaft or borehole.

The Earth will then warm the water again.

You can do the process in reverse.

Ground source heat has been around for a while

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Agree. I did not mean to imply that mine water would be directly heated by fossil fuels etc and fully understand the operation of heat pumps.

I know.
I was just adding some extra information.

Ofcourse you would need to use conventional energy if pumping water to the surface

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Don't think I'll be attending.;D

"This potential aligns well with the UK Government’s 5th Carbon Budget and plans for the decarbonisation of heat that include one in twenty homes being connected to a district heat network by 2030."

You know what boils my blood, we are an island surrounded by water and the government keeps shunning attempts at researching and testing hydroelectric generators in the estuaries and river openings around the country, the latest being bristol... We could single handedly take the whole industry into renewables, but nooooo, lets keep being ripped of by EDF and fossil fuel power...

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You know what boils my blood, we are an island surrounded by water and the government keeps shunning attempts at researching and testing hydroelectric generators in the estuaries and river openings around the country, the latest being bristol... We could single handedly take the whole industry into renewables, but nooooo, lets keep being ripped of by EDF and fossil fuel power...

Ah but who'll think of the wading birds, shrimps, snails, moss weasels etc.

Chris.

You know what boils my blood, we are an island surrounded by water and the government keeps shunning attempts at researching and testing hydroelectric generators in the estuaries and river openings around the country, the latest being bristol... We could single handedly take the whole industry into renewables, but nooooo, lets keep being ripped of by EDF and fossil fuel power...

Ah but who'll think of the wading birds, shrimps, snails, moss weasels etc.



Chris.

I read somewhere that no one could accurately predict the possibility of the Severn Barrage turning into a land reclamation scheme due to estuary silting problems.

You know what boils my blood, we are an island surrounded by water and the government keeps shunning attempts at researching and testing hydroelectric generators in the estuaries and river openings around the country, the latest being bristol... We could single handedly take the whole industry into renewables, but nooooo, lets keep being ripped of by EDF and fossil fuel power...

Ah but who'll think of the wading birds, shrimps, snails, moss weasels etc.

Chris.

Not Chris, clearly! 😉 It would be a dull world indeed if there wasn't a segment of society to look after each of the countless aspects of the world we live in. Like old mines, for example. Just one off the top of my head there!

It's not just wildlife that might be affected by tidal power. There's no such thing as free energy so these installations must effectively slow down the tides. With the tides being caused mainly by the gravitational pull of the moon, slowing them in this manner may disrupt the moons orbit causing it to move further away with a corresponding rise in transport costs meaning the price of cheese could go through the roof!

I forgot about the flat earthers. Apparently they have expressed delight that their numbers are on the increase around the globe.

Ah, the magic energy tree of tidal power/waves ;D

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The main problem with solar, wind and tidal appears to be lack of adequate UK storage capacity to optimise their variable availability cycles.

Storage abroad is probably not the answer.

https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/norway-could-provide-20000-mw-of-energy-storage-to-europe#gs.dntVfNo 

https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/why-norway-cant-become-europes-battery-pack#gs.BKEUlCo 

It's not just wildlife that might be affected by tidal power. There's no such thing as free energy so these installations must effectively slow down the tides. With the tides being caused mainly by the gravitational pull of the moon, slowing them in this manner may disrupt the moons orbit causing it to move further away with a corresponding rise in transport costs meaning the price of cheese could go through the roof!

Not to mention the headlands - have you seen what they get up to? Camming over 'ere, taking our tidal flows and not only that, BLOCKING them! Rip-tides? I call 'em rip-off tides. Getting grants because they claim to be "coastal scenery"! Samfing shad be daaan! Ban all headlands NOW!