The really interesting part of new geothermal tech is the concept of ‘lithium harvesting’. Basically the process leeches lithium out of the rock, and can do so in enough volumes to sell and subsidise the energy costs. The U.K. (South west especially) has rock layers very rich in diffused lithium.
” If you were doing a commercial project, you wouldn’t do it like this.”
The problem is the heat is mostly below granite, and that’s a very hard rock, difficult to drill. And it’s a long way down. Compare it to somewhere like Iceland where the heat has a habit of flowing out of the ground spontaneously. Not every country has to use every renewable method. Our strength is wind – that’s what we should be concentrating on – we have more than most other countries. We can’t compete with Spain on solar, Norway on hydro or Iceland on geo-thermal because geography.
Not debating the plant itself but the eden project is the biggest scam I’ve ever been to in the UK.
Like £3 odd for a can of pop in 2021, the rainforest was impressive but the rest of it is no different to any other garden attraction.
The first drilling project happened here at United Downs before moving on to Eden project but doesn’t seem to have resulted in a generator. It’s a shame, it is definitely hot down there – and there are a lot of very deep shafts already sunk and ready to go, just need the caps taking off.
Good that renewables are being initiated to reduce carbon emissions, although there are some environmental drawbacks of geothermal energy. The example of Turkey shows there runs the risk of heavy metals being released. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_energy_in_Turkey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_energy_in_Turkey)
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The really interesting part of new geothermal tech is the concept of ‘lithium harvesting’. Basically the process leeches lithium out of the rock, and can do so in enough volumes to sell and subsidise the energy costs. The U.K. (South west especially) has rock layers very rich in diffused lithium.
” If you were doing a commercial project, you wouldn’t do it like this.”
The problem is the heat is mostly below granite, and that’s a very hard rock, difficult to drill. And it’s a long way down. Compare it to somewhere like Iceland where the heat has a habit of flowing out of the ground spontaneously. Not every country has to use every renewable method. Our strength is wind – that’s what we should be concentrating on – we have more than most other countries. We can’t compete with Spain on solar, Norway on hydro or Iceland on geo-thermal because geography.
Not debating the plant itself but the eden project is the biggest scam I’ve ever been to in the UK.
Like £3 odd for a can of pop in 2021, the rainforest was impressive but the rest of it is no different to any other garden attraction.
The first drilling project happened here at United Downs before moving on to Eden project but doesn’t seem to have resulted in a generator. It’s a shame, it is definitely hot down there – and there are a lot of very deep shafts already sunk and ready to go, just need the caps taking off.
Good that renewables are being initiated to reduce carbon emissions, although there are some environmental drawbacks of geothermal energy. The example of Turkey shows there runs the risk of heavy metals being released. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_energy_in_Turkey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_energy_in_Turkey)