"Champagne pool", Waiotapu,
New Zealand.

Harnessing the furnace beneath our feet

Most people are familiar with spectacular thermal areas like Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park, or the geysers of Iceland.  Countries like Italy, Iceland, New Zealand, Japan, the U.S., and Indonesia have been making use of such geothermal heat with major power stations for decades.  These typically use very active geothermal areas  to generate steam.

Yet the Earth's heat is not limited to such areas.  The temperature of the Earth increases routinely as a function of depth wherever we are.  Increasingly, with ever more efficient technologies, this fact is being used to heat water, not just steam, and harness this energy - even around the UK.  Unlike other renewables such as wind or solar, this energy stream is constant and reliable, and as long as the earth's core and mantle has radioactive elements - and that's a pretty long time - it will continue. 

PAETORO is further researching applications of geothermal heat in the UK, and compiling a database of related information.  Contact us for more details if of interest.

For more information about UK Deep geothermal, take a look at the following blog posting:

From the outside looking in:  the risk, the money, & the public:  UK Deep (onshore) Geothermal

For an extended version & more personal view, see:  20170525_uk_geothermal_extended.pdf