September News Update

It’s geothermal energy … but with a difference!

Exciting work by our colleagues Charlotte Adams, Jon Gluyas and co-workers in Earth Sciences at Durham University is exploring the geothermal potential of extracting heat from groundwater in abandoned mine workings. Following the onset of the industrial revolution, coal extraction in the NE of England was prolific, leaving behind a legacy of void space from which ground waters are currently pumped and discarded. Charlotte’s calculation suggest that the energy potential could provide heat for around 700,000 homes across the UK.

So it seems that King Coal is able to continue to help meet our unrelenting energy requirements, even as we transition to a low-carbon future. To learn more, you can hear Charlotte present her work in an evening lecture on September 25th at the Mining Institute in Newcastle – an evocative location that houses the world’s oldest professional mining organisation … it’s difficult to envisage a more appropriate venue!